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H2020Individual fellowship2020–2022

SYMBIO-INC · Mechanisms of symbiotic incompatibility in the arbuscular mycorrhizal association

Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2020-09-01 → 2022-08-31
EU contribution
€166,320
Participants
1
Scheme
MSCA-IF

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Results in brief

Mechanisms of symbiotic incompatibility in the arbuscular mycorrhizal association

This project addressed poorly understood mechanisms underlying the differences between mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal plants. Mycorrhizal symbiosis is an important factor mediating plant growth and tolerance to stress, and plays therefore a crucial role in plant production systems. Understanding these mechanisms is central to improving mycorrhizal symbioses for practical applications. Although initial aims were focused at molecular mechanisms, due to COVID-19-related restrictions, the project re-directed focus towards ecological and evolutionary mechanisms, and adopted a data mining strategy combined with modeling to unravel ecological and evolutionary differences between mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal plants.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Understanding the mechanisms that control symbiotic incompatibility is fundamental to evaluate biological factors that delimit symbiosis on Earth and could help us to improve symbioses for practical applications. In terrestrial ecosystems, about 29% of vascular plants, including the plant model Arabidopsis, apparently lost or suppress their ability to host symbiosis with the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, one of the most ancient and functionally important symbiosis on Earth. Yet, the molecular mechanisms that control this symbiotic incompatibility are largely obscure, which is limiting our ability to consistently predict the conditions that constrain AM symbiosis and to engineer new symbiotic partnerships. SYMBIO-INC addresses the challenging question of what are the key molecular constraints that prevent AM fungi from developing functional associations with land plants. Unlike traditional approaches, SYMBIO-INC will employ an interdisciplinary strategy focused on direct evidence with unprecedented emphasis on fungal traits during interactions with Arabidopsis plants differing in hosting phenotypes. Genotypic and molecular aspects will be evaluated for their potential to control Arabidopsis susceptibility to fungal colonization. The hypothesis that fungal nutrition is critical during incompatible interactions will be tested here for the first time. Finally, powerful transcriptomic tools will be employed to deliver a holistic overview of fungal molecular responses under different degrees of compromised symbiotic development. This horizon-broadening approach, combined with the maturity of our knowledge in the topic, supported by a robust set of new preliminary data, makes the proposed research a timely opportunity for paradigm shifting and high impact. Finally, SYMBIO-INC will allow the researcher to reinforce and further expand skills and expertise, create new collaborations, and forge a successful career aiming at a future tenure-track position.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN · LOUVAIN LA NEUVECoordinatorBelgium

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union