Friendly root fungus sends helper proteins to boost plant toughness
Rehneke L, Osborne R, Lehmann S, Zhang Y, Roberts J
Plant Signaling
The mycorrhizal-like fungi already living in your garden soil may be quietly wiring your plants' stress defenses, and figuring out how could lead to hardier vegetables and flowers that shrug off drought and disease.
A helpful fungus called Serendipita indica lives on plant roots and gives its host benefits like better growth and toughness against drought and disease. Researchers discovered that this fungus sends tiny protein messengers into the plant's cells that plug into the plant's own stress-response system, essentially coaching it to cope better with tough conditions. Scientists think studying these fungal messengers could point the way to breeding sturdier crops for a changing climate.
Key Findings
Researchers mapped the interactome of Serendipita indica effector proteins and found they frequently target host proteins involved in stress signaling.
Functional tests showed these effectors alter Arabidopsis responses to abiotic stress (such as drought or heat) as well as resistance to pathogen infection.
The findings suggest symbiont effector proteins could be a source of genetic traits for improving crop resilience under climate change.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists found that a beneficial root fungus injects special proteins into plants to help them handle drought, heat, and disease better. Understanding this could help breed sturdier crops as the climate changes.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Symbiont effectors modulate plant signalling to increase host stress resilience.
Plant colonizing mutualistic symbionts confer beneficial effects to their hosts, which often includes increased growth, and biotic and abiotic stress resilience. How these benefits are activated on...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Species Mentioned
Was this useful?
Want to tell us more? (optional)
Thanks for the note!
Something went wrong — please try again.
Too many submissions. Try again in an hour.
Gene editing removes 97% of celiac-triggering proteins from bread wheat
It could mean that people with celiac disease — roughly 1 in 100 worldwide — may one day safely eat bread made from real wheat, without sacrificing the taste...
Arabidopsis (rockcress) is a genus of small flowering plants in the cabbage and mustard family, Brassicaceae. Arabidopsis species are native to temperate and subarctic Eurasia and North America, North Africa, and the mountains of eastern tropical Africa. This genus is of great interest since it c...