Overlaps in the transcriptional profiles of Medicago truncatula roots inoculated with two different Glomus fungi provide insights into the genetic program activated during arbuscular mycorrhiza

Plant Physiol. 2005 Apr;137(4):1283-301. doi: 10.1104/pp.104.056572. Epub 2005 Mar 18.

Abstract

Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) is a widespread symbiotic association between plants and fungal microsymbionts that supports plant development under nutrient-limiting and various stress conditions. In this study, we focused on the overlapping genetic program activated by two commonly studied microsymbionts in addition to identifying AM-related genes. We thus applied 16,086 probe microarrays to profile the transcriptome of the model legume Medicago truncatula during interactions with Glomus mosseae and Glomus intraradices and specified a total of 201 plant genes as significantly coinduced at least 2-fold, with more than 160 being reported as AM induced for the first time. Several hundred genes were additionally up-regulated during a sole interaction, indicating that the plant genetic program activated in AM to some extent depends on the colonizing microsymbiont. Genes induced during both interactions specified AM-related nitrate, ion, and sugar transporters, enzymes involved in secondary metabolism, proteases, and Kunitz-type protease inhibitors. Furthermore, coinduced genes encoded receptor kinases and other components of signal transduction pathways as well as AM-induced transcriptional regulators, thus reflecting changes in signaling. By the use of reporter gene expression, we demonstrated that one member of the AM-induced gene family encoding blue copper binding proteins (MtBcp1) was both specifically and strongly up-regulated in arbuscule-containing regions of mycorrhizal roots. A comparison of the AM expression profiles to those of nitrogen-fixing root nodules suggested only a limited overlap between the genetic programs orchestrating root endosymbioses.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Carrier Proteins / genetics
  • Carrier Proteins / metabolism
  • Cell Wall / metabolism
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Genes, Plant
  • Medicago truncatula / genetics*
  • Medicago truncatula / metabolism
  • Medicago truncatula / microbiology*
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Mycorrhizae / metabolism*
  • Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
  • Plant Growth Regulators / genetics
  • Plant Growth Regulators / metabolism
  • Plant Proteins / genetics
  • Plant Proteins / metabolism
  • Plant Roots / metabolism
  • Plant Roots / microbiology
  • Signal Transduction
  • Symbiosis / genetics
  • Transcription, Genetic

Substances

  • Carrier Proteins
  • Plant Growth Regulators
  • Plant Proteins

Associated data

  • GENBANK/AC126009