Desert plants, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and associated bacteria: Exploring the diversity and role of symbiosis under drought

Jose Daniel Chávez González, Víctor M. Flores Núñez, Irving U. Merino Espinoza, Laila Pamela Partida Martínez

Te invitamos a leer el artículo "Desert plants, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and associated bacteria: Exploring the diversity and role of symbiosis under drought" publicado en "Enviromental Microbiology Reports", a cargo de la Dra. LAila Pamela Partida Martínez de Cinvestav Irapuato.

Autores:

Jose Daniel Chávez González, Víctor M. Flores Núñez, Irving U. Merino Espinoza, Laila Pamela Partida Martínez

Resumen:

Desert plants, such as Agave tequilana, A. salmiana and Myrtillocactus geometrizans, can survive harsh environmental conditions partly due to their symbiotic relationships with microorganisms, including arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Interestingly, some of these fungi also harbour endosymbiotic bacteria. Our research focused on investigating the diversity of these AMFs and their associated bacteria in these plants growing in arid soil. We found that agaves have a threefold higher AMF colonization than M. geometrizans. Metabarcoding techniques revealed that the composition of AMF communities was primarily influenced by the plant host, while the bacterial communities were more affected by the specific plant compartment or niche they inhabited. We identified both known and novel endofungal bacterial taxa, including Burkholderiales, and confirmed their presence within AMF spores using multiphoton microscopy. Our study also explored the effects of drought on the symbiosis between A. tequilana and AMF. We discovered that the severity of drought conditions could modulate the strength of this symbiosis and its outcomes for the plant holobiont. Severe drought conditions prevented the formation of this symbiosis, while moderate drought conditions promoted it, thereby conferring drought tolerance in A. tequilana. This research sheds light on the diversity of AMF and associated bacteria in Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM) plants and underscores the crucial role of drought as a factor modulating the symbiosis between A. tequilana and AMF. Further research is needed to understand the role of endofungal bacteria in this response.