Symbioses have been fundamental to colonization of terrestrial ecosystems by plants and their evolution. Emergence of the ancient arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis was followed by the diversification of alternative intracellular symbioses, such as the ericoid mycorrhizae (ErM). We aimed at understanding how these diversifications occurred. We sequenced the genomes of ErM-forming liverworts, and reconstituted symbiosis under laboratory conditions. We demonstrated the existence of a nutrient-regulated symbiotic state that enables ErM and underlies intracellular colonization of plant tissues. Comparative transcriptomic analyses identified an ancestral gene module associated with intracellular symbiosis beyond ErM. Genetic manipulations in the liverwort Marchantia paleacea, phylogenetics and transactivation assays demonstrated its essential function for intracellular symbiosis. We conclude that plant have maintained, and convergently recruited, an ancestral gene module for intracellular symbioses.

Understanding the genetic code of cis-regulatory elements (CREs) is essential for engineering gene expression and modulating agronomic traits in crops. In plants, CREs underlying rapid evolution of ge...

The Department of Biology at UNC Chapel Hill will employ a tenure-track position in Organismal Biology at the Assistant Professor level.The Assistant Professor studies resilience using the organism as...

YouTube video by Plants in Jars

Men-led papers receive more media coverage than women’s, new study finds

Visit our website to learn more.

Evolve with Arcadia.

I have a special relationship with the bacterium Xanthomonas. As a grad student at UC Davis, I did my thesis research on Xanthomonas…

Directed evolution can rapidly generate genetic variants with new and enhanced properties, yet efficient platforms for performing such evolution directly in plant cells have been lacking. We developed...

PhD Project - The biosynthesis and immunity function of lettuce sesquiterpene lactones at Gatsby Charitable Foundation, listed on FindAPhD.com

Nature Plants - Rapid discovery of functional resistance genes is enabled by a high-expression signature and high-throughput transformation. This approach identified 31 new resistance genes for...

The snackable grape variety is the brainchild of scientists at Rutgers University, who have spent more than a decade trying to produce a firm, crack-resistant fruit with a vibrant reddish-yellow color

Many species of bacteria produce small-molecule antibiotics that enter and kill a wide range of competitor microbes. However, diffusible antibacterial proteins that share this broad-spectrum activity ...