Protozoa and plant growth: the microbial loop in soil revisited

All nutrients that plants absorb have to pass a region of intense interactions between roots, microorganisms and animals, termed the rhizosphere. Plants allocate a great portion of their photosynthetically fixed carbon to root-infecting symbionts, such asmycorrhizal fungi; another part is released as exudates fuelling mainly free-living rhizobacteria. Rhizobacteria are strongly top-down regulated by microfaunal grazers, particularly protozoa. Consequently, beneficial effects of protozoa on plant growth have been assigned to nutrients released from consumed bacterial biomass, that is, the 'microbial loop'. In recent years however, the recognition of bacterial communication networks, the common exchange of microbial signals with roots and the fact that these signals are used to enhance the efflux of carbon from roots have revolutionized our view of rhizosphere processes. Most importantly, effects of rhizobacteria on root architecture seem to be driven in large by protozoan grazers. Protozoan effects on plant root systems stand in sharp contrast to effects of mycorrhizal fungi. Because the regulation of root architecture is a key determinant of nutrient- and water-use efficiency in plants, protozoa provide a model system that may considerably advance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying plant growth and community composition.