Thanks very much, only possible thanks to your biosensors!

More similarities between flower development and mutualist accommodation seem to keep emerging. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

That's a cool parallel, I guess the cell biology of the pollen vegetative cell containing the sperm cells is analogous to a root cortex cell containing an arbuscule. Did you see the PI(4,5)P2 biosensor localising to subdomains of the peri-germ cell membrane, similar to the arbuscule tips?

8/ TL;DR:
✅ Phosphoinositide signatures at plant-microbe interfaces are dynamic
✅ Mutualist colonisation reshapes pathogen interface identity
✅ This shift correlates with enhanced resistance, suggesting membrane identity may influence infection outcome.

8/ Beyond just documenting these dynamics, our work asks:
🌱 Can we rethink host-pathogen “specialised” membranes as dynamic, context-dependent landscapes?
🔬 Are immune evasion strategies vulnerable in complex microbial environments?

7/ So what's going on? We propose that PI4P exclusion from haustoria is a pathogen-driven strategy, likely involving secreted effectors.
But during AM symbiosis, trafficking to arbuscules may override this, forcing the pathogen into an interface it didn’t design.

6/ Even more: co-colonisation enhances resistance to P. palmivora. Mutualist presence seems to rewire the pathogen interface.

5/ But here's the twist, during co-colonisation, haustoria begin recruiting PI4P
That’s a fundamental shift in membrane identity. And yes - we observed single plant cells simultaneously harbouring both an arbuscule and a haustorium!

4/Watch it in action! Here’s PI(4,5)P₂ (via biosensor P24Y) tracking fungal growth during AM symbiosis. Captured using @jenmcgaley.bsky.social‘s AMSlide.

3/ In single infections:
• PI(4,5)P₂ is tip-enriched in arbuscules but uniform around haustoria. Each interaction has a distinct membrane fingerprint.
• PI4P is present at the periarbuscular membrane of the mutualist but absent from haustoria of the pathogen.

2/ Phosphoinositides (PIPs) are key lipids that define membrane identity. We visualised PI(4,5)P₂ and PI4P biosensors from @yvonjaillais.bsky.social in Nicotiana benthamiana during root colonisation by a mutualist AM fungus - F. mosseae and a pathogen - P. palmivora. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...