Have you ever seen a picture of a dinosaur and realized that there is a palm-like plant by its side? Maybe you have walked around your neighborhood and seen the same kind of plant there? Incredibly, those ancient plants, called cycads, have been around for millions of years. A single cycad plant can live up to 2,000 years! We think that the secret to cycads' survival and long life lies inside a very special structure called the coralloid root, which has microbes living inside it. We studied these coralloid roots and found a high diversity of bacterial species living inside of them, more than anyone had ever imagined. When we took a closer look at these bacteria, we found that they can produce many compounds that can help them communicate among themselves and with the plant, transport nutrients, and perform other functions that are still a mystery.

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Go to source: https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2019.00156