Plant life partners: Beneficial bacteria

Just like the human gut microbiome (population of microbes), which enables a healthy immune system, the plant microbiome in the roots (rhizobiome) is unique to each plant and provides a healthy lifestyle. [...]PGPR release chemicals and make soil minerals more available to the plant; this enhances the plant's fitness towards environmental stresses such as drought, salinity, heat, and heavy metals. Some bacteria living in soils use a special enzyme (nitrogenase) to change (or 'fix') atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia under anaerobic conditions; plants then use the ammonia to form essential molecules.