Jing Zhang is a PhD student in Plant science and phytochemistry.

More information about Jing Zhang

Research

Interactions between plants and soil organisms have long been recognized for their importance in plant growth. Plants show either negative feedbacks or positive feedbacks in response to the changing of their microorganisms in belowground. Meanwhile, microbes indirectly effect plant development and defense responses. We found strong evidence for negative plant-soil feedback based on growth of Jacobeae vulgaris, while after treating them with Salicylic acid, the negative feedback was into positive. Therefore, an intriguing idea is that via manipulating the plant’s defense system with signaling hormones the diversity of rhizosphere soil microbes can probably be changed. Hence, experiments that test either induced JA-systemic resistance or  systemic required SA-resistance are necessary to understand the link between manipulating phytohormone pathways changing soil microorganisms with the resulting effects on plant development or productive.