[ExpertScie]

Symbiotic association reminds me the story “power in unity “which I heard in my childhood.
Our elders use to demonstrate the moral of story "power of unity" by giving us single stick and then use to ask us to break it, which was easy. Later, we tried to break bunch/set of same sticks at a time and then could understood what is the meaning of power in unity and ultimately the moral of story.
I think, bacteria might have heard this story somewhere during their evolution! This is so because today many bacteria are symbiotically associated not only with other microorganisms but also with plants, animals and even humans. In our intestine, many bacteria survive and also helps us in digesting various food. They provid required acidic condition in gut and other enzymes for digestive support etc.
The best example is Genus Lactobacillus. Many bacteria produce vitamins in our body which are vital for our growth and metabolism. These vitamins include Vitamin B2, B12 etc.
The presence of many bacteria in plants helps in fixing atmospheric nitrogen and thus plants can readily utilize atmospheric nitrogen in the form of nitrate. These are especially found in leguminous plants having microorganism with nif gene which expresses and convert nitrogen in to readily utilizable form “nitrate” for plants. In turn bacteria get host and other molecules for their survival within the host.
This is nothing but give and take, the power of symbiotic association which helps such bacteria to become more capable of survival in extreme conditions and in developing resistant to unfavorable conditions as compared to one who live isolated.
Whatever is the life form, whether microorganisms, animals or humans but the moral of story is same for all of them- Symbiosis/ Unity is power!