Reminiscent to the microbiota-gut-brain axis described in animals, recent advances indicate that plants can take advantage of belowground microbial commensals to orchestrate aboveground stress responses. Integration of plant responses to microbial cues belowground and environmental cues aboveground emerges as a mechanism that promotes stress tolerance in plants. Using recent examples obtained from reductionist and community-level approaches, we discuss the extent to which perception of aboveground biotic and abiotic stresses can cascade along the shoot–root axis to sculpt root microbiota assembly and modulate the growth of root commensals that bolster aboveground stress tolerance. We propose that host modulation of microbiota-root-shoot circuits contributes to phenotypic plasticity and decision-making in plants, thereby promoting adaptation to rapidly changing environmental conditions.

让人想起动物中描述的微生物群-肠-脑轴，最近的进展表明植物可以利用地下微生物共生来协调地上压力反应。植物对地下微生物线索和地上环境线索的反应的整合是一种促进植物胁迫耐受性的机制。使用从还原论和社区水平方法中获得的最新例子，我们讨论了对地上生物和非生物胁迫的感知可以在多大程度上沿着地上部轴级联以塑造根系微生物群组装并调节根共生体的生长，以增强地上胁迫耐受性. 我们提出微生物群-根-芽回路的宿主调节有助于植物的表型可塑性和决策，