The Elevation Research Group of the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences has made progress in the study of mycorrhizal adaptation strategies

Arbuscular mycorrhizae are mutualistic symbionts formed by plant roots and mycorrhizal fungi, and have important functions in nutrient absorption, carbon cycling, and diversity maintenance
.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal host plants account for 70-80% of terrestrial plants (> 170,000 species), while only over 300 species of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are known
.

Therefore, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi have traditionally been considered to have no trade-offs in adaptation strategies
.


Recently, through water control experiments in farmland ecosystems, the team of Prof.
Elevation from the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Prof.
John W.
Taylor from the University of California, Berkeley, USA, found that drought stress did not change the composition of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities
.

Combined with the finding that the biomass of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi decreased due to previous drought, it was concluded that long-term irrigation of farmland caused the loss of drought-tolerant arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
.

Referring to the author's earlier research on grassland ecosystems, it was found that drought led to changes in the composition of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, and the idea of ​​introducing drought-tolerant symbionts from nature into farmland ecosystems to enhance the drought resistance of crops was proposed
.


Species must make trade-offs in the allocation of limited resources, and the CSR strategy triangle, or UAST theory, is defined by three basic dimensions: disturbance, coercion, and competition
.

The R(uderal) strategy group can colonize rapidly after disturbance, but the ability of stress tolerance and competitiveness is weak; the stress-tolerant S (tress-tolerant) strategy group has weak ability of competition and colonization; The highly competitive C (ompetitor) strategy group was weaker in stress tolerance and colonization
.


Further, the research team's research on the information flow of symbionts found that the R-strategy mycorrhizal fungi in the early succession accelerated the establishment of symbiotic relationships through strigolactone secreted by plant roots, and the C-strategy mycorrhizal fungi in the later succession staged through the Tin oligosaccharides regulate the formation of symbiotic relationships
.


Elevation research group's research on material flow shows that: R-strategy mycorrhizal fungi mainly help plants absorb water, while C-strategy mycorrhizal fungi help plants absorb water and nutrients at the same time
.

This study provides new ideas for sustainable agricultural development in the context of global drought
.


The results were published in Molecular Ecology under the title Successional adaptive strategies revealed by correlating arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal abundance with host plant gene expression
.

Elevation is the first and corresponding author, and Professor John W.
Taylor is the co-corresponding author
.


The article is highly rated by the reviewers: this study represents a significant advance in the field and will lead to a series of impressive studies in the field of mycorrhizal expression (which can be published in a good journal): In my humble view, this current study represent a significant advance in this field, and will hopefully be used as an example in a field where AMF expression studies are possible at best (and yet still get published in good journals!).
Link to paper: https://onlinelibrary.
wiley .
com/doi/10.
1111/mec.
16343