Scientists discovered that a common bread mold (Neurospora crassa) can quietly live inside the roots of a grass without causing disease, and identified two specific proteins—located in specialized membrane compartments called eisosomes—that are essential for the fungus to establish this peaceful partnership.
1
Neurospora crassa, previously classified as strictly saprotrophic (feeding only on dead matter), colonizes roots and vascular bundles of Brachypodium distachyon without triggering disease symptoms.
2
Deletion of either ncw-6 or div-23—two proteins localized to eisosomes (plasma membrane microdomains)—completely abolished root colonization, while disrupting MAP kinase and NADPH oxidase signaling pathways did not.
3
This is the first report implicating eisosome-associated proteins as essential components of a plant-fungal interaction, suggesting eisosomes may play a broad role in how fungi interface with living plant tissue.
mail
Weekly plant science — one email, Saturdays.
Check your inbox to confirm — link expires in 24 hours.
Something went wrong — please try again.
Too many signup attempts from your network. Try again in an hour, or email hello@plant.news.
