The microbiota thriving at the root-soil interface plays a crucial role in supporting plant growth, development and health. The interactions between plant and soil microbes can be traced back to the initial plant's colonisation of dry lands. Understanding the evolutionary drivers of these interactions will be key to re-wire them for the benefit of mankind. Here we critically assess recent insights into the evolutionary history of plant-microbiota interactions in natural and agricultural ecosystems. We identify distinctive features, as well as commonalities, of these two distinct scenarios and areas requiring further research efforts. Finally, we propose strategies that combining advances in molecular microbiology and crop genomics will be key towards a predictable manipulation of plant-microbiota interactions for sustainable crop production.

中文翻译：

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追踪植物-微生物相互作用的进化途径。

在根-土壤界面上繁衍的微生物群在支持植物生长，发育和健康中起着至关重要的作用。植物与土壤微生物之间的相互作用可以追溯到最初植物在干旱土地上的定殖。了解这些相互作用的进化驱动因素将是为人类利益重新连接它们的关键。在这里，我们批判性地评估对自然和农业生态系统中植物-微生物群落相互作用的进化历史的最新见解。我们确定了这两种不同的场景和领域的鲜明特征和共性，需要进一步的研究。最后，我们提出了将分子微生物学和作物基因组学相结合的策略将成为可预测地操纵植物-微生物群相互作用以实现可持续作物生产的关键的策略。