Commentary on the de Vega et al. (2010) paper on hyphae in the parasitic plant Cytinus
: Mycorrhizal fungi growing within plants are not always mycorrhizal1

Mark C. Brundrett

doi:10.3732/ajb.1000174

Chemical genetics and strigolactone perception

F1000Research ◽

10.12688/f1000research.11379.1 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

pp. 975 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Shelley Lumba ◽

Michael Bunsick ◽

Peter McCourt

Keyword(s):

Small Molecules ◽

Mycorrhizal Fungi ◽

Chemical Space ◽

Chemical Genetics ◽

Parasitic Plants ◽

Parasitic Plant ◽

Chemical Probes ◽

Plant Seeds ◽

Lead Compounds ◽

Work First

Strigolactones (SLs) are a collection of related small molecules that act as hormones in plant growth and development. Intriguingly, SLs also act as ecological communicators between plants and mycorrhizal fungi and between host plants and a collection of parasitic plant species. In the case of mycorrhizal fungi, SLs exude into the soil from host roots to attract fungal hyphae for a beneficial interaction. In the case of parasitic plants, however, root-exuded SLs cause dormant parasitic plant seeds to germinate, thereby allowing the resulting seedling to infect the host and withdraw nutrients. Because a laboratory-friendly model does not exist for parasitic plants, researchers are currently using information gleaned from model plants like Arabidopsis in combination with the chemical probes developed through chemical genetics to understand SL perception of parasitic plants. This work first shows that understanding SL signaling is useful in developing chemical probes that perturb SL perception. Second, it indicates that the chemical space available to probe SL signaling in both model and parasitic plants is sizeable. Because these parasitic pests represent a major concern for food insecurity in the developing world, there is great need for chemical approaches to uncover novel lead compounds that perturb parasitic plant infections.

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Heavy metal binding by mycorrhizal fungi

Physiologia Plantarum ◽

10.1034/j.1399-3054.1994.920224.x ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 92 (2) ◽

pp. 364-368 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Ulrich Galli ◽

Hannes Schuepp ◽

Christian Brunold

Keyword(s):

Heavy Metal ◽

Metal Binding ◽

Mycorrhizal Fungi ◽

Heavy Metal Binding

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Temporal dynamics of mycorrhizal fungal communities and co-associations with grassland plant communities following experimental manipulation of rainfall

10.32942/osf.io/t82ug ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Coline Deveautour ◽

Sally Power ◽

Kirk Barnett ◽

Raul Ochoa-Hueso ◽

Suzanne Donn ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Community Composition ◽

Plant Community ◽

Plant Communities ◽

Fungal Community ◽

Mycorrhizal Fungi ◽

Temporal Dynamics ◽

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal ◽

Fungal Communities ◽

Plant Responses ◽

Rainfall Regimes

Climate models project overall a reduction in rainfall amounts and shifts in the timing of rainfall events in mid-latitudes and sub-tropical dry regions, which threatens the productivity and diversity of grasslands. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi may help plants to cope with expected changes but may also be impacted by changing rainfall, either via the direct effects of low soil moisture on survival and function or indirectly via changes in the plant community. In an Australian mesic grassland (former pasture) system, we characterised plant and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal communities every six months for nearly four years to two altered rainfall regimes: i) ambient, ii) rainfall reduced by 50% relative to ambient over the entire year and iii) total summer rainfall exclusion. Using Illumina sequencing, we assessed the response of AM fungal communities sampled from contrasting rainfall treatments and evaluated whether variation in AM fungal communities was associated with variation in plant community richness and composition. We found that rainfall reduction influenced the fungal communities, with the nature of the response depending on the type of manipulation, but that consistent results were only observed after more than two years of rainfall manipulation. We observed significant co-associations between plant and AM fungal communities on multiple dates. Predictive co-correspondence analyses indicated more support for the hypothesis that fungal community composition influenced plant community composition than vice versa. However, we found no evidence that altered rainfall regimes were leading to distinct co-associations between plants and AM fungi. Overall, our results provide evidence that grassland plant communities are intricately tied to variation in AM fungal communities. However, in this system, plant responses to climate change may not be directly related to impacts of altered rainfall regimes on AM fungal communities. Our study shows that AM fungal communities respond to changes in rainfall but that this effect was not immediate. The AM fungal community may influence the composition of the plant community. However, our results suggest that plant responses to altered rainfall regimes at our site may not be resulting via changes in the AM fungal communities.

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