scholarly journals Structural plasticity in root-fungal symbioses: diverse interactions lead to improved plant fitness

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e6030 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khalil Kariman ◽  
Susan Jane Barker ◽  
Mark Tibbett

Root-fungal symbioses such as mycorrhizas and endophytes are key components of terrestrial ecosystems. Diverse in trophy habits (obligate, facultative or hemi-biotrophs) and symbiotic relations (from mutualism to parasitism), these associations also show great variability in their root colonization and nutritional strategies. Specialized interface structures such as arbuscules and Hartig nets are formed by certain associations while others are restricted to non-specialized intercellular or intracellular hyphae in roots. In either case, there are documented examples of active nutrient exchange, reinforcing the fact that specialized structures used to define specific mycorrhizal associations are not essential for reciprocal exchange of nutrients and plant growth promotion. In feremycorrhiza (with Austroboletus occidentalis and eucalypts), the fungal partner markedly enhances plant growth and nutrient acquisition without colonizing roots, emphasizing that a conventional focus on structural form of associations may have resulted in important functional components of rhizospheres being overlooked. In support of this viewpoint, mycobiome studies using the state-of-the-art DNA sequencing technologies have unearthed much more complexity in root-fungal relationships than those discovered using the traditional morphology-based approaches. In this review, we explore the existing literature and most recent findings surrounding structure, functioning, and ecology of root-fungal symbiosis, which highlight the fact that plant fitness can be altered by taxonomically/ecologically diverse fungal symbionts regardless of root colonization and interface specialization. Furthermore, transition from saprotrophy to biotrophy seems to be a common event that occurs in diverse fungal lineages (consisting of root endophytes, soil saprotrophs, wood decayers etc.), and which may be accompanied by development of specialized interface structures and/or mycorrhiza-like effects on plant growth and nutrition.

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (12) ◽  
pp. 1726-1743
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Szuba ◽  
Łukasz Marczak ◽  
Izabela Ratajczak

Abstract It is believed that resource exchange, which is responsible for intensified growth of ectomycorrhizal plants, occurs in the fungus–plant interface. However, increasing evidence indicates that such intensified plant growth, especially root growth promotion, may be independent of root colonization. Nevertheless, the molecular adjustments in low-colonized plants remain poorly understood. Here, we analysed the metabolome of Populus × canescens microcuttings characterized by significantly increased growth triggered by inoculation with Paxillus involutus, which successfully colonized only 2.1 ± 0.3% of root tips. High-throughput metabolomic analyses of leaves, stems and roots of Populus × canescens microcuttings supplemented with leaf proteome data were performed to determine ectomycorrhiza-triggered changes in N-, P- and C-compounds. The molecular adjustments were relatively low in low-colonized (M) plants. Nevertheless, the levels of foliar phenolic compounds were significantly increased in M plants. Increases of total soluble carbohydrates, starch as well as P concentrations were also observed in M leaves along with the increased abundance of the majority of glycerophosphocholines detected in M roots. However, compared with the leaves of the non-inoculated controls, M leaves presented lower concentrations of both N and most photosynthesis-related proteins and all individual mono- and disaccharides. In M stems, only a few compounds with different abundances were detected, including a decrease in carbohydrates, which was also detected in M roots. Thus, these results suggest that the growth improvement of low-colonized poplar trees is independent of an increased photosynthesis rate, massively increased resource (C:N) exchange and delivery of most nutrients to leaves. The mechanism responsible for poplar growth promotion remains unknown but may be related to increased P uptake, subtle leaf pigment changes, the abundance of certain photosynthetic proteins, slight increases in stem and root amino acid levels and the increase in flavonoids (increasing the antioxidant capacity in poplar), all of which improve the fitness of low-colonized poplars.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 1582
Author(s):  
Spenser Waller ◽  
Stacy L. Wilder ◽  
Michael J. Schueller ◽  
Alexandra B. Housh ◽  
Stephanie Scott ◽  
...  

Herbaspirillum seropedicae, as an endophyte and prolific root colonizer of numerous cereal crops, occupies an important ecological niche in agriculture because of its ability to promote plant growth and potentially improve crop yield. More importantly, there exists the untapped potential to harness its ability, as a diazotroph, to fix atmospheric N2 as an alternative nitrogen resource to synthetic fertilizers. While mechanisms for plant growth promotion remain controversial, especially in cereal crops, one irrefutable fact is these microorganisms rely heavily on plant-borne carbon as their main energy source in support of their own growth and biological functions. Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF), a microbial function that is reliant on nitrogenase enzyme activity, is extremely sensitive to the localized nitrogen environment of the microorganism. However, whether internal root colonization can serve to shield the microorganisms and de-sensitize nitrogenase activity to changes in the soil nitrogen status remains unanswered. We used RAM10, a GFP-reporting strain of H. seropedicae, and administered radioactive 11CO2 tracer to intact 3-week-old maize leaves and followed 11C-photosynthates to sites within intact roots where actively fluorescing microbial colonies assimilated the tracer. We examined the influence of administering either 1 mM or 10 mM nitrate during plant growth on microbial demands for plant-borne 11C. Nitrogenase activity was also examined under the same growth conditions using the acetylene reduction assay. We found that plant growth under low nitrate resulted in higher nitrogenase activity as well as higher microbial demands for plant-borne carbon than plant growth under high nitrate. However, carbon availability was significantly diminished under low nitrate growth due to reduced host CO2 fixation and reduced allocation of carbon resources to the roots. This response of the host caused significant inhibition of microbial growth. In summary, internal root colonization did little to shield these endophytic microorganisms from the nitrogen environment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasios Samaras ◽  
Marios Nikolaidis ◽  
Maria Luisa Antequera-Gómez ◽  
Jesus Cámara-Almirón ◽  
Diego Romero ◽  
...  

Bacillus spp. MBI 600 is a gram-positive bacterium and is characterized as a PGPR strain involved in plant growth promotion and control of various plant pathogens which has recently been introduced into the agricultural practice. In this study we performed a Next Generation Sequencing analysis, to analyze the full genome of this microorganism and to characterize it taxonomically. Results showed that MBI 600 strain was phylogenetically close to other Bacillus spp. strains used as biocontrol agents and identified as B. subtilis. GOG analysis showed clusters contributed to secondary metabolites production such as fengycin and surfactin. In addition, various genes which annotated according to other plant-associated strains, showed that play a main role in nutrient availability from soil. The root colonization ability of MBI 600 strain was analyzed in vivo with a yellow fluorescence protein (yfp) tag. Confocal laser scanning microscopy of cucumber roots treated with yfp-tagged MBI 600 cells, revealed that the strain exhibits a strong colonization ability of cucumber roots, although it is affected significantly by the growth substrate of the roots. In vitro and in planta experiments with MBI 600 strain and F. oxysporum f.sp. radicis cucumerinum and P. aphanidernatum, showed a high control ability against these soilborne pathogens. Overall, our study demonstrates the effectiveness of MBI 600 in plant growth promotion and antagonism against different pathogens, highlighting the use of this microorganism as a biocontrol agent.


2022 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamid Rouina ◽  
Yu-Heng Tseng ◽  
Karaba N. Nataraja ◽  
Ramanan Uma Shaanker ◽  
Thomas Krüger ◽  
...  

Numerous Trichoderma strains are beneficial for plants, promote their growth, and confer stress tolerance. A recently described novel Trichoderma strain strongly promotes the growth of Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings on media with 50 mM NaCl, while 150 mM NaCl strongly stimulated root colonization and induced salt-stress tolerance in the host without growth promotion. To understand the dynamics of plant-fungus interaction, we examined the secretome from both sides and revealed a substantial change under different salt regimes, and during co-cultivation. Stress-related proteins, such as a fungal cysteine-rich Kp4 domain-containing protein which inhibits plant cell growth, fungal WSC- and CFEM-domain-containing proteins, the plant calreticulin, and cell-wall modifying enzymes, disappear when the two symbionts are co-cultured under high salt concentrations. In contrast, the number of lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases increases, which indicates that the fungus degrades more plant lignocellulose under salt stress and its lifestyle becomes more saprophytic. Several plant proteins involved in plant and fungal cell wall modifications and root colonization are only found in the co-cultures under salt stress, while the number of plant antioxidant proteins decreased. We identified symbiosis- and salt concentration-specific proteins for both partners. The Arabidopsis PYK10 and a fungal prenylcysteine lyase are only found in the co-culture which promoted plant growth. The comparative analysis of the secretomes supports antioxidant enzyme assays and suggests that both partners profit from the interaction under salt stress but have to invest more in balancing the symbiosis. We discuss the role of the identified stage- and symbiosis-specific fungal and plant proteins for salt stress, and conditions promoting root colonization and plant growth.


2008 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla da Silva Sousa ◽  
Ana Cristina Fermino Soares ◽  
Marlon da Silva Garrido

Studies with streptomycetes in biocontrol programs and plant growth promotion are presented as technological alternatives for environmental sustainable production. This work has the objective of characterizing six isolates of streptomycetes aiming the production of extracellular enzymes, indole acetic acid, capacity for phosphate solubilization, root colonization and growth under different pH and salinity levels. For detection of enzyme activity the isolates were grown in culture media with the enzyme substrates as sole carbon source. The root colonization assay was performed on tomato seedlings grown on 0.6% water-agar medium. Growth under different pH and salinity levels was evaluated in AGS medium with 1%, 1.5%, 2%, 2.5%, and 3% NaCl, and pH levels adjusted to 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5, and 7.0. All isolates produced the enzymes amylase, catalase, and lipase, as well as indole acetic acid. With one exception (AC-92), all isolates presented cellulolytic and chitinolytic activity, and only AC-26 did not show xylanolytic activity. The isolates AC-147, AC-95, and AC-29 were the highest producers of siderophores. The isolates AC-26 and AC-29 did not show capacity for phosphate solubilization. All isolates colonized tomato roots in vitro, and AC-92 grew under all pH and salinity levels tested. The streptomycetes tested were considered as potential biocontrol and plant growth promotion agents.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 412
Author(s):  
Esther Menéndez ◽  
Juan Pérez-Yépez ◽  
Mercedes Hernández ◽  
Ana Rodríguez-Pérez ◽  
Encarna Velázquez ◽  
...  

Mesorhizobium contains species widely known as nitrogen-fixing bacteria with legumes, but their ability to promote the growth of non-legumes has been poorly studied. Here, we analyzed the production of indole acetic acid (IAA), siderophores and the solubilization of phosphate and potassium in a collection of 24 strains belonging to different Mesorhizobium species. All these strains produce IAA, 46% solubilized potassium, 33% solubilize phosphate and 17% produce siderophores. The highest production of IAA was found in the strains Mesorhizobium ciceri CCANP14 and Mesorhizobium tamadayense CCANP122, which were also able to solubilize potassium. Moreover, the strain CCANP14 showed the maximum phosphate solubilization index, and the strain CCANP122 was able to produce siderophores. These two strains were able to produce cellulases and cellulose and to originate biofilms in abiotic surfaces and tomato root surface. Tomato seedlings responded positively to the inoculation with these two strains, showing significantly higher plant growth traits than uninoculated seedlings. This is the first report about the potential of different Mesorhizobium species to promote the growth of a vegetable. Considering their use as safe for humans, animals and plants, they are an environmentally friendly alternative to chemical fertilizers for non-legume crops in the framework of sustainable agriculture.


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