Endobacteria, mycorrhizal fungi, plants: a symbiotic hub

Paola Bonfante 
University of Torino - Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology - Italy

January 25, 2023 (11:30-12:30)
Webinar Link: https://meet.goto.com/296739949

Abstract: Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are an ancient and beneficial group of fungi which live associated to more than 70% of land plants. A still enigmatic aspect of these fungi is that they may host endobacteria belonging to both Burkholderia-Related and Mollicutes Related Bacteria (Uehling et al in press 2023). While the latter are widespread among different AM taxa, Burkholderia-Related endobacteria have been so far exclusively detected in Gigasporales, and in detail the isolate BEG34 of Gigaspora margarita contains an endobacterium, Candidatus Glomeribacter gigasporarum (CaGg), while other isolates may host both CaGg and MREs, giving rise to an endomicrobiota (Desirò et al 2014). We used OMICs tools to investigate the responses of G. margarita to CaGg and found that the endobacterium has a relevant impact on the fungal physiology (Salvioli et al., 2016) and on its transcriptome (Venice et al 2020), even if the cured line maintains its mycorrhizal capacities. Notwithstanding the absence of a clear phenotypic effect on the host plant, OMICs tools revealed that many molecular responses related to the AM symbiosis were impacted when the cured line was used to mycorrhize the roots of Lotus japonicus (Venice et al 2021). These experiments suggest that not only the fungus but also the plant may perceive the presence of the endobacterium, giving a further experimental evidence to the role played by symbiotic microbes in tuning fungal and plant responses

Author's Info: https://www.dbios.unito.it/do/docenti.pl/Show?_id=pbonfant#tab-profilo

Link to video: https://youtu.be/qhwlyaesqus