Fig. 4: Conceptual model illustrating the ecological mechanisms of interaction between protists and bacterial taxa in the rhizosphere. | Nature Communications

Fig. 4: Conceptual model illustrating the ecological mechanisms of interaction between protists and bacterial taxa in the rhizosphere.

From: Soil-dwelling Naegleria enhances plant performance by stimulating beneficial bacterial functions in the rhizosphere

Fig. 4

The model provides an overview of the main findings reported in this study, as follows: 1) Predatory protists can directly suppress phytopathogen via predation; 2) Predatory protists can enrich for specific plant-beneficial bacteria in the rhizosphere; 3) Protist predation can promote biofilm formation to protect against predation by ecological interaction between microbial species within the rhizosphere; 4) Protists can indirectly enhance biosynthesis of secondary metabolites in plant-beneficial bacteria. Created in BioRender. Yue, Y. (2025) https://BioRender.com/g0lezf7.

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