Rhizosphere as Hotspot for Plant-Soil-Microbe Interaction

In the last decades, many studies were addressed to focus the interplay between plant and microbial community into the soil and especially in the small soil zone in contact to plant root, called rhizosphere, which can be considered as a hotspot for interactions and therefore is a major target for improving nutrient use efficiency in crops. In this regard, unraveling the microbial activities that can be used to improve nutrient use efficiency may be the major challenge considering a sustainable agricultural contest. However, although using different approaches (metabolomics and transcriptomic) it has made it possible to characterize many interaction mechanisms, more remains largely unknown. Here, we summarize and discuss the abiotic and biotic factors that may manage plant-microbe interactions in the rhizosphere as well as in those parts of the soil furthest from the root, focusing on root architecture and nitrate as well.