Inside Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Roots – Molecular Probes to Understand the Symbiosis

Associations between arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and plants are an ancient and widespread plant microbe symbioses. Most land plants can associate with this specialized group of soil fungi (in the Glomeromycota), which enhance plant nutrient uptake in return for C derived from plant photosynthe...

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Published inThe plant genome Vol. 6; no. 2; pp. 1 - 13
Main Authors Ruzicka, Daniel, Chamala, Srikar, Barrios‐Masias, Felipe H., Martin, Francis, Smith, Sally, Jackson, Louise E., Barbazuk, W. Brad, Schachtman, Daniel P.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Crop Science Society of America 01.07.2013
Wiley
Subjects
aquaporins
carbohydrates
cultivars
embryophytes
genes
Glomeromycota
high-throughput nucleotide sequencing
iron
messenger RNA
mutants
mycorrhizal fungi
nutrient uptake
photosynthesis
roots
Solanum lycopersicum
symbionts
tomatoes
transcriptomics
transporters
vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizae
zinc
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Summary:Associations between arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and plants are an ancient and widespread plant microbe symbioses. Most land plants can associate with this specialized group of soil fungi (in the Glomeromycota), which enhance plant nutrient uptake in return for C derived from plant photosynthesis. Elucidating the mechanisms involved in the symbiosis between obligate symbionts such as AM fungi and plant roots is challenging because AM fungal transcripts in roots are in low abundance and reference genomes for the fungi have not been available. A deep sequencing metatranscriptomics approach was applied to a wild‐type tomato and a tomato mutant (Solanum lycopersicum L. cultivar RioGrande 76R) incapable of supporting a functional AM symbiosis, revealing novel AM fungal and microbial transcripts expressed in colonized roots. We confirm transcripts known to be mycorrhiza associated and report the discovery of more than 500 AM fungal and novel plant transcripts associated with mycorrhizal tomato roots including putative Zn, Fe, aquaporin, and carbohydrate transporters as well as mycorrhizal‐associated alternative gene splicing. This analysis provides a fundamental step toward identifying the molecular mechanisms of mineral and carbohydrate exchange during the symbiosis. The utility of this metatranscriptomic approach to explore an obligate biotrophic interaction is illustrated, especially as it relates to agriculturally relevant biological processes.
Bibliography:All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Permission for printing and for reprinting the material contained herein has been obtained by the publisher.
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ISSN:1940-3372
1940-3372
DOI:10.3835/plantgenome2012.06.0007