Plants decide which specific cells will be infected by bacteria before they even touch them.
April 14, 2026
Original Paper
Specialised root hair cells facilitate rhizobial infection
bioRxiv · 10.64898/2026.04.10.717526
The Takeaway
Legumes pre-set less than 1% of their root hairs as 'infection-ready' entry points. This shows plants are far more proactive than we thought, carefully selecting 'gates' to get nutrients while keeping the rest of their roots safe from invasion.
From the abstract
Legumes establish symbiotic partnerships with soil bacteria that convert atmospheric nitrogen into plant-available forms. Symbiotic bacteria enter through root hairs following recognition by cell surface receptors that help identify compatible symbionts. However, many root hairs express these receptors, and it has long remained unclear why only a small fraction become infected. Here, we use single-cell transcriptomics to show that legumes pre-specify a rare root hair population for infection bef