Plants and microbes interact in a myriad of ways in terrestrial ecosystems,which span from molecular to open-field scales.The basis of such communications among and within species is of intense interest among the plant-biotic interactions research community.While we think of DNA as the code that provides the genetic information of all organisms,recent discoveries on the functions of fragmented extracellular DNA (eDNA) have opened up a new arena in our understanding of biotic interactions (Mazzoleni et al.,2015a).In particular,plant perceptions of eDNA and extracellular RNA (eRNA) have embarked on a new journey in the fields of molecular pattern recognition and plant immune response (Lee et al.,2015;Mazzoleni et al.,2015a,2015b).Such genetic materials in plant-microbe interactions play a provocative role in self-and non-self-recognition and induction of innate immunity in plants.eDNA and eRNA from bacteria are a strong trigger of biofilm formation,affecting colonization of the plant surface and a novel microbeassociated molecular pattern (MAMP),respectively (Panstruga,2016).These findings suggest the intersection of disciplines,bringing to light new and interesting insight into the ways in which organisms interact and communicate in their natural environment.
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Financial support was obtained from BioNano Health-Guard Research Center funded by the Ministry of Science,ICT & Future Planning MSIPas Global Frontier Project Grant No.H-GUARD_2013M3A6B2078952,the Next-Generation BioGreen 21 Program SSAC grant #PJ009524,Rural Development Administration,South Korea,and the KRIBB initiative program,South Korea.