Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and the Tolerance of Plants to Drought and Salinity

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal contribution towards plant resilience to drought conditions

Climate changes cause altering rainfall patterns resulting in an increase in drought occurrences globally. These events are disrupting plants and agricultural productivity. To evade droughts, plants try to adapt and modify in the best capacities possible. The plants have adapted by structurally modifying roots, stems, and leaves, as well as modifying functions. Lately, the association of microbial communities with plants has also been proven to be an important factor in aiding resilience. The fungal representatives of the microbial community also help safeguard the plants against drought. We discuss how these fungi associate with plants and contribute to evading drought stress. We specifically focus on Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) mediated mechanisms involving antioxidant defenses, phytohormone mediations, osmotic adjustments, proline expressions, fungal water absorption and transport, morphological modifications, and photosynthesis. We believe understanding the mechanisms would help us to optimize the use of fungi in agricultural practices. That way we could better prepare the plants for the anticipated future drought events.

Role of abscisic acid in strigolactone-induced salt stress tolerance in arbuscular mycorrhizal Sesbania cannabina seedlings

BACKGROUND

Strigolactones (SLs) are considered to be a novel class of phytohormone involved in plant defense responses. Currently, their relationships with other plant hormones, such as abscisic acid (ABA), during responses to salinity stress are largely unknown.

RESULTS

In this study, the relationship between SL and ABA during the induction of H₂O₂ - mediated tolerance to salt stress were studied in arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) Sesbania cannabina seedlings. The SL levels increased after ABA treatments and decreased when ABA biosynthesis was inhibited in AM plants. Additionally, the expression levels of SL-biosynthesis genes in AM plants increased following treatments with exogenous ABA and H₂O₂. Furthermore, ABA-induced SL production was blocked by a pre-treatment with dimethylthiourea, which scavenges H₂O₂. In contrast, ABA production was unaffected by dimethylthiourea. Abscisic acid induced only partial and transient increases in the salt tolerance of TIS108 (a SL synthesis inhibitor) treated AM plants, whereas SL induced considerable and prolonged increases in salt tolerance after a pre-treatment with tungstate.

CONCLUSIONS

These results strongly suggest that ABA is regulating the induction of salt tolerance by SL in AM S. cannabina seedlings.

How drought and salinity affect arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis and strigolactone biosynthesis?

This paper reviews the importance of AM symbiosis in alleviating plant stress under unfavourable environmental conditions, making emphasis on the role of strigolactones. A better understanding of the mechanisms that regulate this beneficial association will increase its potential use as an innovative and sustainable strategy in modern agriculture. Plants are very dynamic systems with a great capacity for adaptation to a constantly changing environment. This phenotypic plasticity is particularly advantageous in areas damaged or subjected to intensive agriculture. Nowadays, global crop production systems are intensifying the impact on natural resources, such as water availability. Therefore, there is an urgent need to find more sustainable alternatives. One of the plant strategies to improve phenotypic plasticity is to establish mutualistic beneficial associations with soil microorganisms, such as the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. The establishment of AM symbiosis requires a complex network of interconnected signalling pathways, in which phytohormones play a key role. Strigolactones (SLs) are plant hormones acting as modulators of the coordinated development under nutrient shortage. SLs also act as host detection signals for AM fungi, favouring symbiosis establishment. In this review, current knowledge on the effect of water-related stresses, such as drought and salinity, in AM symbiosis and in SL production is discussed. Likewise, how the symbiosis helps the host plant to alleviate stress symptoms is also reviewed. Finally, we highlight how interactions between hormonal signalling pathways modulate all these responses, especially in the cross-talk between SLs and abscisic acid (ABA). Understanding the intricate mechanisms that regulate the establishment of AM symbiosis and the plant responses under unfavourable conditions will contribute to implement the use of AM fungi as bioprotective agents against these stresses.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis induces strigolactone biosynthesis under drought and improves drought tolerance in lettuce and tomato

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis alleviates drought stress in plants. However, the intimate mechanisms involved, as well as its effect on the production of signalling molecules associated with the host plant-AM fungus interaction remains largely unknown. In the present work, the effects of drought on lettuce and tomato plant performance and hormone levels were investigated in non-AM and AM plants. Three different water regimes were applied, and their effects were analysed over time. AM plants showed an improved growth rate and efficiency of photosystem II than non-AM plants under drought from very early stages of plant colonization. The levels of the phytohormone abscisic acid, as well as the expression of the corresponding marker genes, were influenced by drought stress in non-AM and AM plants. The levels of strigolactones and the expression of corresponding marker genes were affected by both AM symbiosis and drought. The results suggest that AM symbiosis alleviates drought stress by altering the hormonal profiles and affecting plant physiology in the host plant. In addition, a correlation between AM root colonization, strigolactone levels and drought severity is shown, suggesting that under these unfavourable conditions, plants might increase strigolactone production in order to promote symbiosis establishment to cope with the stress.