A tripartite bacterial-fungal-plant symbiosis in the mycorrhiza-shaped microbiome drives plant growth and mycorrhization

Changfeng Zhang, Marcel G.A. van der Heijden, Bethany K. Dodds, Thi Bich Nguyen, Jelle Spooren, Alain Valzano-Held, Marco Cosme, Roeland L. Berendsen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Background: Plant microbiomes play crucial roles in nutrient cycling and plant growth, and are shaped by a complex interplay between plants, microbes, and the environment. The role of bacteria as mediators of the 400-million-year-old partnership between the majority of land plants and, arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi is still poorly understood. Here, we test whether AM hyphae-associated bacteria influence the success of the AM symbiosis. Results: Using partitioned microcosms containing field soil, we discovered that AM hyphae and roots selectively assemble their own microbiome from the surrounding soil. In two independent experiments, we identified several bacterial genera, including Devosia, that are consistently enriched on AM hyphae. Subsequently, we isolated 144 pure bacterial isolates from a mycorrhiza-rich sample of extraradical hyphae and isolated Devosia sp. ZB163 as root and hyphal colonizer. We show that this AM-associated bacterium synergistically acts with mycorrhiza on the plant root to strongly promote plant growth, nitrogen uptake, and mycorrhization. Conclusions: Our results highlight that AM fungi do not function in isolation and that the plant-mycorrhiza symbiont can recruit beneficial bacteria that support the symbiosis. [MediaObject not available: see fulltext.]

Original languageEnglish
Article number13
Number of pages22
JournalMicrobiome
Volume12
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19 Jan 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024, The Author(s).

Funding

We thank Utrecht Sequencing Facility for providing sequencing service and data. We are grateful to Dr. Claire E. Stanley from Imperial College London, for providing suggestions on hyphal bacteria isolation. We thank Richard van Logtestijn and Rob Broekman from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam for determining the N and P concentrations on Prunella leaves. We also thank Gijs Selten from Universiteit Utrecht for assembling the Devosia genome.

FundersFunder number
China Scholarship Council

    Keywords

    • Arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi
    • Mycorrhization
    • Nitrogen uptake
    • Organic farming
    • Plant growth
    • Plant microbiome

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