Microbial Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) have been shown to modulate plant development on numerous occasions. Plants have most frequently been subjected to VOCs produced by bacteria growing on media rich in nutrients to achieve this. Instead, we grew Fusarium fungi in soil to examine how the VOCs released by this system affected the growth of Arabidopsis plants. Additionally, the volatile profiles of soil-grown and malt extractgrown Fusarium strains were examined. Our findings demonstrate that different Fusarium genetic clades produce distinct volatile signatures, but they also highlight the importance of the growing medium on volatile emission. Furthermore, by lowering the concentration of VOCs in the soil, all soil-grown Fusarium isolates lengthened the primary roots of Arabidopsis. This outcome marks a significant paradigm shift. Since growth-modulating effects have previously been attributed to the emission rather than the consumption of volatile signals, plant-microbe interactions have changed.
