Mycorrhizae and Root

development
Akash Kalita
Karthik Viswanathan
UG 4th Year Students
MC 202 Presentation
Dramatis Personae: I’ll help you.But only if you help me!

Mycorrhizae: Symbiotic
association between
Fungus and the plant

Can be Mutualistic or
Parasitic

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 TYPES

→Most Common
→Less Common
(~80%)
(~20%)
→ Presences of
→ No of Vesicles
Vesicles and
and Arbuscules
Arbuscules
→ Fungi:
→ Fungi:
Glomeromycota
Ascomycota and
Plant: Conifers ,
Basidiomycota
Deciduous
Plant: Most vascular
Non-Confers
Plants

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 4
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffunb.2021.735299/full#B115
But why ?

Plant benefits from the

Hyphae’s higher capacity to
absorb water and mineral
nutrients(Larger Surface
Area./volume = 2/R)
- More Phosphorous
- Uptake of Nitrogen (Breakdown
of Organic matter and transfer
of N to host plant.)

Size of Root Hair Size of Hyphae=

1/10-1/50th Root hair

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 Insights into Nutrient uptake specialized transporters located on the fungal
membrane in the extraradical mycelium.

Carbohydrates Directly translocated from Leaves to Root

tissues on to the fungal partners

Disease resistance: Enzyme mediated toxicity for pant

nnematodes

Hyphae connect different plants underground through a

Mycorrhizal network which transport H2O, Carbon and other
nutrients.

Also can communicate to other plants to release VOCs incase

of insect infestations

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fe6
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms1046 nvs.2018.00159/full
But how?
● Fungi aggregates, ensheath the tree’s lateral roots to form the mantle and then massively colonize the
apoplastic space of the root cortical cells , forming the Hartig Net where Nutrient exchanges take place

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartig_net
 Germination of a resting spore→ short
explorative mycelium→Perception of
plant exudates→induces recursive
branching→ More contact .

Fungal exudates→perceived by the

root→ trigger Ca2+ spiking(activation of
the common SYM pathway)

Signal transduction activation of cellular

and transcriptional responses .
Eg. Strigolactones
Followed by the adhesion of a
hyphopodium to the root
surface→triggers the assembly of a
broad aggregation of cytoplasm (yellow),
named the pre-penetration apparatus
(PPA) in the contacted epidermal cell and
underlying outer cortical cell.

Fungal colonization strictly follows PPA.

Extensive surface for nutrient exchange.

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Paola et.al ,2010, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1046
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Paola et.al ,2010, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1046
EFFECTS ON ROOT DEVELOPMENT

● VA mycorrhiza modifies roots in both

Monocots and Dicots
● Developed a denser root system, with
a higher number of shorter, more
branched adventitious roots of greater
diameter .

Berta et. al ,1994 ,Tree Physiology 15, 281--293,

Berta et al ,1992, Environmental and Experimental Botany, Vol. 33, No. I,
pp. 159- 173, 1993, 10
Effect of root zone temperature on mycorrhizal colonisation

Liu, A., Wang, B. & Hamel, C. Arbuscular mycorrhiza colonization and development at suboptimal root zone temperature. 11
Mycorrhiza 14, 93–101 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-003-0242-9
Effect of root zone temperature on mycorrhizal colonisation

Liu, A., Wang, B. & Hamel, C. Arbuscular mycorrhiza colonization and development at suboptimal root zone temperature.
Mycorrhiza 14, 93–101 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-003-0242-9 12
Effect of root zone temperature on mycorrhizal colonisation

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-003-0242-913
Multiple control levels of root system remodeling in
arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis

→ Lateral roots exhibit increased

responsiveness to AM colonization
(when activated with ENOD11: a
mycorrhization gene).

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Caroline et.al 2013 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2013.00204
Induction of the MtENOD11 promoter during arbuscule development. ( pMtENOD11-gusA
fusion is activated strongly and specifically in inner cortical cells containing
arbuscules)
Very early stage marker

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Journet et. al ,2001,https://doi.org/10.1094/MPMI.2001.14.6.737
 Historic experiments by Slankis (1973)
have demonstrated a role for fungal auxin
Regulation of Lateral Root
in forming mycorrhizal associations in
Pinus roots.

In Monocots
induction

Genes that act upstream of

Ca2+-spiking as
part of the common SYM
pathway

In Dicots 16
Caroline et.al 2013 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2013.00204
SYM(BIOSIS) PATHWAY

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Paola et.al ,2010, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1046
ROOT SYSTEM CHANGES DUE TO INTRA-RADICAL
FUNGI

AM fungi deliver phosphate and nitrogen directly into the

root cortex where the minerals are taken up by specific
plant ion transporters localized in the peri-arbuscular
membrane( a plant-derived membrane) domain that
surrounds the arbuscule branches

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Chiu et. al ,2022 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.08.069 Caroline et.al 2013 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2013.00204
 ROLE OF AUXIN

Auxin inhibits root elongation and

promotes development of lateral roots.
Lateral root development involves a series
of cell divisions in activated pericycle cells
(or endodermal cells in cereals) to form
root primordia, which differentiate into
newly emerging lateral roots

Auxin Lateral roots

Root elongation 19
Pisolithus tinctorius and Paxillus involutus, have
free and conjugated IAA in mycelium and culture
media. Rhizophagus irregularis and Glomus
intraradices were reported to produced IAA & IBA,
respectively auxin-responsive
gene
Acidification mediated host cell-wall penetration

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Symbiosis https://doi.org/10.1007/s13199-021-00793-1
A study on Auxin in Poncirus trifoliata v Funneliformis
mosseae
Higher IAA Lower Efflux IAA

AMF inoculation showed a significant increase in transcript level of PtTAA1, PtYUC3,PtYUC8(auxin

biosynthesis in plants )
AMF incoculation down-regulated the transcript level of root PtPIN1 and PtPIN3,(Auxin efflux
carriers)

AMF inoculation up-regualted a few EXPs proteins{AMF-mediated expression of root PtEXPAs is

strongly dependent on soil moisture status}
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Mycorrhiza induced maize gene ZmPt9 in Arabidopsis !!

https://doi.org/10.1080/15592324.2018.1542240 22
Mycorrhiza induced maize gene ZmPt9 in Arabidopsis !!

Symbiosis inducible genes are

also involved in root development
and Pi accumulation in
AM-independent manner

https://doi.org/10.1080/15592324.2018.1542240 23
THE MOLECULAR PLAYERS

● AM fungi are able to modulate root cortex

development in Medicago truncatula by
activating a novel GRAS-domain transcription
factor, MIG1, that determines the size of cortical colonization by R. irregularis redirected
MIG1 expression to cortical cells
root cells. containing arbuscules
● MIG1 expression peaks in Arbuscule- containing
cells (Possible role in Remodelling)
● RAD1,RAM1 Essential

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Heck et al., 2016, Current Biology 26, 2770–2778
 Malformed arbuscule phenotype could be related to the
impossibility of radial expansion
● MIG-1inRNAi→ cells harboring
Impairedarbuscules⇒
Arbuscles
● MIG1 effects root Radial
cortexexpansion of cells isincritical forcells.
Arbuscle formation
Cortical
development→
● Mycorrhization frequency and
Enlargement of root
markers remain the same. But
diameter (Similar to “successful” Arbuscles were
effect as GA-inhibitors) lowered
● Morphological changes- ● Phenotype restored with DELLA .
Wider and Longer cells
GA inhibitor(PAC)= DELLA1 OE= MIG1 OE= Increased ROOT diameter 25
During symbiosis, MIG1 recruits
DELLA1 to the promoter of genes
responsible for radial cell growth,
resulting in a radial expansion of
Arbuscule -containing cells.

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 Front. Plant Sci., 28 March 2022 Sec. Plant Symbiotic Interactions
Volume 13 - 2022 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.836213
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Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(11), 5960; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23115960
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How to break this bond? Role
of Epigenetics

● Modulating levels of Chromatin

remodelers like DDN1 and DML1 in
Populus tremula x Populus alba lines
and their Mycorrhizal association with
L.bicolor.
● Effect on genes involved in root initiation,
Ethylene and Jasmonate-mediated
pathway, terpenoid metabolism.

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https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.18734
Interaction of Sugar and Hormone Metabolism Involved in the Root Hair
Morphogenesis in A. beshanzuensis

● Two hormone–sucrose–root hair modules

were linked by IAA17, and SUS(Sucrose
synthase) was positioned in the center of the
regulation network, co-expressed with SRK2E
in hormone transduction and key genes
related to root hair morphogenesis.

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Plants 2023, 12(2), 276; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12020276
THANKYOU

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 The Parasitic “outliers”
One way road: Parasitic fungi have developed the genes and proteins required for
colonization and Invasion of the Host root.

- RAM2-mediated fatty acid biosynthesis to facilitate invasion.

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