MYCOTRANS

Role of mycorrhiza‐induced fungal transporters in ectomycorrhizal symbiosis

It has long been recognized that the ectomycorrhizal associations developing between trees and Basidiomycetes or Ascomycetes fungi improve the mineral nutrition of the host plant. However, we still do not know which marker genes may reflect the efficiency of the symbiosis in improving the mineral nutrition of the host plant. So far we have mainly studied the regulation of macronutrient transport (P, N and K) from the fungus to the plant which could be carried out thanks to fungal membrane transporters specifically expressed during symbiosis. Remarkably, the gene whose transcription is the most stimulated encodes a cation transporter (CDF transporter for “Cation Diffusion Facilitator”) which putatively transport microelements (zinc, iron, manganese) but whose location, regulation and role in situ are completely unknown. Our working hypothesis is that this microelement transporter, like the other fungal transporters significantly induced by mycorrhization, would play an important role in the development, maintenance or functioning of the association. Thus, MYCOTRANS aims to better understand the physiological role of proteins encoded by the genes specifically induced in ectomycorrhizae. MYCOTRANS should provide a promising angle of attack to allow us to use mycorrhizal interactions for the rational management of cultivated land and forests, taking into account the ecosystem services rendered by mycorrhizal fungi.

Objectives

The objectives of MYCOTRANS are:

to decipher the physiological function, localization and regulation of the fungal CDF transporter with a genetic and functional analysis,
to analyze the role in mycorrhizal plants of the genes induced in mycorrhizae, by developing genome editing tools (CRISPR / Cas) for the ectomycorrhizal fungus, and
to discover new elements of regulation of the mycorrhizal symbiosis occurring specifically at the level of proteins by the analysis of the proteome and phosphoproteome of ectomycorrhizae.

More specifically, our UMR is responsible for objective 3

Dates

MYCOTRANS duration is 30 months, from 2020, 01/01 until 2022, 31/05

Partenaires

UMR Biochimie et Physiologie Moléculaire des Plantes (BPMP), Montpellier, coordinatrice du projet (Dr S. Zimmermann)
UMR Eco&Sols, Montpellier
Universiteit Hasselt, Belgium (Dr J. Ruytinx) (non financé par l’ANR)