File:Tetrads of bacterium Micrococcus luteus in root cells of plant Rumex crispus.jpg

English: Root tip cells showing tetrads of the bacterium Micrococcus luteus in the periplasmic space (between plant cell wall and plant plasma membrane) of root cells. The bacteria enter root cells at the root meristem, bacteria convert to wall-less protoplasts and are exposed to reactive oxygen produced by NOX enzymes on root cell plasma membranes, and surviving bacteria exit root cells at the tips of elongating root hairs, reforming bacterial cell walls as they emerge back into soil. The alternation of bacteria between a free-living soil phase and an endophytic/intracellular phase in roots has been termed the 'rhizophagy cycle'. Bacteria acquire nitrogen and other nutrients in the free-living soil phase, and nutrients are oxidatively extracted from bacteria in the endophytic/intracellular phase in roots.

English: Root tip cells showing tetrads of the bacterium Micrococcus luteus in the periplasmic space (between plant cell wall and plant plasma membrane) of root cells. The bacteria enter root cells at the root meristem, bacteria convert to wall-less protoplasts and are exposed to reactive oxygen produced by NOX enzymes on root cell plasma membranes, and surviving bacteria exit root cells at the tips of elongating root hairs, reforming bacterial cell walls as they emerge back into soil. The alternation of bacteria between a free-living soil phase and an endophytic/intracellular phase in roots has been termed the 'rhizophagy cycle'. Bacteria acquire nitrogen and other nutrients in the free-living soil phase, and nutrients are oxidatively extracted from bacteria in the endophytic/intracellular phase in roots.