Bacteria live inside plant cells. In fact it seems they do it often, perhaps surprisingly in every kind of plant that no one has noticed before. Scientists who have discovered their presence do not know what happens to plants that have bacteria inside their cells, but they often find them beneficial.
Understanding the phenomenon can lead to ways to supercharge tree growth. It has been known for over 200 years that bacteria known as endophytes can live inside plants without harming them. The science of endophytes, however, is familiar with the spaces between plant cells, sometimes flattening to fit it.
These create coexistent relationships, provide protection against pests and diseases rather than protecting the survival of a place, and share a portion of the nutrients received by the host. Nevertheless, until Dr. Pius Thomas, the inside of a plant cell was thought to be different, then at the University of Flinders in Australia, something that looked like a bacterium inside a Sanskrit grape cell was brought to the attention of Professor Chris Franco The search began.
As a result of that project, a research result on microorganisms has now been published. Thomas, now running his own biotech company, said in a statement, “I am encouraging this new field of plant cell biology at my R&D center in Bangalore with plans to focus on endophytic microorganisms and associated areas, including the primary focus on papaya micropropagation, which has been largely hampered by the intervention of microbial contaminants.”
“Usually endophytic bacteria are known to live in plant cells. Since plant cells are considered free from other organisms, it goes against the grain to report bacteria in plant cells.” Many things try to live inside the cells of other organisms. This is the main strategy of viruses if they can imagine what they do in life. Nor is it always harmful – it is likely that animals got mitochondria that enter our unicellular ancestors and store our energy from prokaryotic cells. Yet, the discovery has given both authors a push.
“This new paradigm of cytobacteria in health cells has the potential to open up a whole new field of research, including plant biology, human health and environmental microbiology,” Franco said, referring to existing tools for the study of plant cells. Bacteria took so long to be sure because they could not be cultivated in rich media, only surviving in the cells in which they live. Thomas and Franco’s research focuses primarily on the presence of bacteria in the cells of tropical trees such as bananas and papayas, but among the species they have studied; it has been found that the inhabitants of winter regions are included.
