Increased Flower Production of <i>Calibrachoa x hybrida</i> by the Soil Fungus <i>Mortierella elongata</i>1

Becker, Lindsey; Cubeta, Marc A.

doi:10.24266/0738-2898-38.4.114

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 31 publications

(28 reference statements)

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“…2). Previous studies have shown the L. elongata increases Calibrachoa flower production [45]. We demonstrate here that L. elongata fungal treatments had a strong positive effect on Arabidopsis seed size and total seed number.…”

Section: Linnemannia Elongata Promotes Arabidopsis Growth Independent Of Endobacteriasupporting

confidence: 65%

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Linnemannia elongata (Mortierellaceae) stimulates Arabidopsis thaliana aerial growth and responses to auxin, ethylene, and reactive oxygen species

Vandepol

Liber

Yocca

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Harnessing the plant microbiome has the potential to improve agricultural yields and protect plants against pathogens and/or abiotic stresses, while also relieving economic and environmental costs of crop production. While previous studies have gained valuable insights into the underlying genetics facilitating plant-fungal interactions, these have largely been skewed towards certain fungal clades (e.g. arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi). Several different phyla of fungi have been shown to positively impact plant growth rates, including Mortierellaceae fungi. However, the extent of the plant growth promotion (PGP) phenotype(s), their underlying mechanism(s), and the impact of bacterial endosymbionts on fungal-plant interactions remain poorly understood for Mortierellaceae. In this study, we focused on the symbiosis between soil fungus Linnemannia elongata (Mortierellaceae) and Arabidopsis thaliana (Brassicaceae), as both organisms have high-quality reference genomes and transcriptomes available, and their lifestyles and growth requirements are conducive to research conditions. Further, L. elongata can host bacterial endosymbionts related to Mollicutes and Burkholderia . The role of these endobacteria on facilitating fungal-plant associations, including potentially further promoting plant growth, remains completely unexplored. We measured Arabidopsis aerial growth at early and late life stages, seed production, and used mRNA sequencing to characterize differentially expressed plant genes in response to fungal inoculation with and without bacterial endosymbionts. We found that L. elongata improved aerial plant growth, seed mass and altered the plant transcriptome, including the upregulation of genes involved in plant hormones and “response to oxidative stress”, “defense response to bacterium”, and “defense response to fungus”. Furthermore, the expression of genes in certain phytohormone biosynthetic pathways were found to be modified in plants treated with L. elongata . Notably, the presence of Mollicutes- or Burkholderia- related endosymbionts in Linnemannia did not impact the expression of genes in Arabidopsis or overall growth rates.

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Section: Linnemannia Elongata Promotes Arabidopsis Growth Independent Of Endobacteriasupporting

confidence: 65%

“…2 ). Millet has previously been used as a fungal substrate for inoculating soil in plant-fungal symbiosis research [13,45]. A NoMillet control was initially included to test the assumption that the millet-based inoculum had no impact on the plants.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linnemannia elongata (Mortierellaceae) stimulates Arabidopsis thaliana aerial growth and responses to auxin, ethylene, and reactive oxygen species

Vandepol

Liber

Yocca

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…Aerial dry biomass of full-grown Arabidopsis plants was not significantly different between NVP64cu and NVP64wt or between NVP80cu and NVP80wt ( Fig 2 ). Millet has previously been used as a fungal substrate for inoculating soil in plant-fungal symbiosis research [ 16 , 49 ]. A NoMillet control was initially included to test the assumption that the millet-based inoculum had no impact on the plants.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies have shown the L . elongata increases Calibrachoa flower production [ 49 ]. We demonstrate here that L .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linnemannia elongata (Mortierellaceae) stimulates Arabidopsis thaliana aerial growth and responses to auxin, ethylene, and reactive oxygen species

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Harnessing the plant microbiome has the potential to improve agricultural yields and protect plants against pathogens and/or abiotic stresses, while also relieving economic and environmental costs of crop production. While previous studies have gained valuable insights into the underlying genetics facilitating plant-fungal interactions, these have largely been skewed towards certain fungal clades (e.g. arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi). Several different phyla of fungi have been shown to positively impact plant growth rates, including Mortierellaceae fungi. However, the extent of the plant growth promotion (PGP) phenotype(s), their underlying mechanism(s), and the impact of bacterial endosymbionts on fungal-plant interactions remain poorly understood for Mortierellaceae. In this study, we focused on the symbiosis between soil fungus Linnemannia elongata (Mortierellaceae) and Arabidopsis thaliana (Brassicaceae), as both organisms have high-quality reference genomes and transcriptomes available, and their lifestyles and growth requirements are conducive to research conditions. Further, L. elongata can host bacterial endosymbionts related to Mollicutes and Burkholderia. The role of these endobacteria on facilitating fungal-plant associations, including potentially further promoting plant growth, remains completely unexplored. We measured Arabidopsis aerial growth at early and late life stages, seed production, and used mRNA sequencing to characterize differentially expressed plant genes in response to fungal inoculation with and without bacterial endosymbionts. We found that L. elongata improved aerial plant growth, seed mass and altered the plant transcriptome, including the upregulation of genes involved in plant hormones and “response to oxidative stress”, “defense response to bacterium”, and “defense response to fungus”. Furthermore, the expression of genes in certain phytohormone biosynthetic pathways were found to be modified in plants treated with L. elongata. Notably, the presence of Mollicutes- or Burkholderia-related endosymbionts in Linnemannia did not impact the expression of genes in Arabidopsis or overall growth rates. Together, these results indicate that beneficial plant growth promotion and seed mass impacts of L. elongata on Arabidopsis are likely driven by plant hormone and defense transcription responses after plant-fungal contact, and that plant phenotypic and transcriptional responses are independent of whether the fungal symbiont is colonized by Mollicutes or Burkholderia-related endohyphal bacteria.

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“…Secondly, common soil saprotrophs may enter into the endophytic phase with plant roots, but without forming typical mycorrhizal structures, thus referred to here as the saprotrophy‐endophytism continuum. For instance, Mortierella elongata (Mortierellomycotina) is a common species of soil fungi that is also recognized as a plant growth‐promoting endophyte (Becker, 2017; Liao et al, 2019). Thirdly, several soil saprotrophs could switch to endophytism and then adopt a mycorrhizal habitat.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facultative symbiosis with a saprotrophic soil fungus promotes potassium uptake in American sweetgum trees

Peng

Shan

Yang

et al. 2021

Plant Cell & Environment

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Several species of soil free-living saprotrophs can sometimes establish biotrophic symbiosis with plants, but the basic biology of this association remains largely unknown. Here, we investigate the symbiotic interaction between a common soil saprotroph, Clitopilus hobsonii (Agaricomycetes), and the American sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua). The colonized root cortical cells were found to contain numerous microsclerotia-like structures. Fungal colonization led to increased plant growth and facilitated potassium uptake, particularly under potassium limitation (0.05 mM K + ).The expression of plant genes related to potassium uptake was not altered by the symbiosis, but colonized roots contained the transcripts of three fungal genes with homology to K + transporters (ACU and HAK) and channel (SKC). Heterologously expressed ChACU and ChSKC restored the growth of a yeast K + -uptake-defective mutant. Upregulation of ChACU transcript under low K + conditions (0 and 0.05 mM K + ) compared to control (5 mM K + ) was demonstrated in planta and in vitro. Colonized plants displayed a larger accumulation of soluble sugars under 0.05 mM K + than non-colonized plants. The present study suggests reciprocal benefits of this novel tree-fungus symbiosis under potassium limitation mainly through an exchange of additional carbon and potassium between both partners.

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Increased Flower Production of Calibrachoa x hybrida by the Soil Fungus Mortierella elongata1

Cited by 8 publications

References 31 publications

Linnemannia elongata (Mortierellaceae) stimulates Arabidopsis thaliana aerial growth and responses to auxin, ethylene, and reactive oxygen species

Linnemannia elongata (Mortierellaceae) stimulates Arabidopsis thaliana aerial growth and responses to auxin, ethylene, and reactive oxygen species

Linnemannia elongata (Mortierellaceae) stimulates Arabidopsis thaliana aerial growth and responses to auxin, ethylene, and reactive oxygen species

Facultative symbiosis with a saprotrophic soil fungus promotes potassium uptake in American sweetgum trees

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