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PerspectivePure2169 t1_j8c1uj5 wrote

They do, and it is only just becoming understood. Nitrogen fixing bacteria live inside the plant on and in nodes on the roots, where they exchange nutrients for sugars.

There are also free living nitrogen fixing bacteria that associate with plants within the biofilm they secrete to coat their roots. Plants will also secrete other compounds to recruit bacteria and fungi partners who specialize in extracting certain nutrients the plant is deficient in.

But this process occurs on the surfaces, the tips, and intracellularly within the roots, as well as within special chambers within the roots that host symbiotic fungi.

Each plant species has preferences for the bacteria and fungi it associates with. But they definitely live within the plant, in ways we are just learning.

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Alblaka t1_j8csl5z wrote

It's plants. They grow in the ground in front of us. We've have discovered Agriculture about 10k years ago.

And we still haven't figured out all of the details of how plans actually work.

It's humbling and amusing to think about how we're always dreaming about space, other worlds, or the unexplored deep sea trenches, but could just as well just spend more time studying the grass we're standing on.

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SigerMakkerMeget t1_j8d1pl7 wrote

>And we still haven't figured out all of the details of how plans actually work.

You can say that about basically everything we know. There is always another, deeper level, that we don't really know how it works. We just know the results it produces on the level that we do understand.

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