Abstract
Maize, a main crop worldwide, establishes a mutualistic symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi providing nutrients to the roots from soil volumes which are normally not in reach of the non-colonized root. The mycorrhizal phosphate uptake pathway (MPU) spans from extraradical hyphae to root cortex cells housing fungal arbuscules and promotes the supply of phosphate to the mycorrhizal host in exchange for photosynthetic carbon. This symbiotic association with the mycobiont has been shown to affect plant host nutritional status and growth performance. However, whether and how the MPU affects the root microbial community associated with mycorrhizal hosts in association with neighboring plants, remains to be demonstrated. Here the maize germinal Mu transposon insertion mutant pht1;6, defective in mycorrhiza-specific Pi transporter PHT1;6 gene, and wild type B73 (wt) plants were grown in mono- and mixed culture and examined under greenhouse and field conditions. Disruption of the MPU in pht1;6 resulted in strongly diminished growth performance, in reduced P allocation to photosynthetic source leaves, and in imbalances in leaf elemental composition beyond P. At the microbial community level a loss of MPU activity had a minor effect on the root-associated fungal microbiome which was almost fully restricted to AM fungi of the Glomeromycotina. Moreover, while wt grew better in presence of pht1;6, pht1;6 accumulated little biomass irrespective of whether it was grown in mono- or mixed culture and despite of an enhanced fungal colonization of its roots in co-culture with wt. This suggested that a functional MPU is prerequisite to maintain maize growth and that neighboring plants competed for AM fungal Pi in low P soil. Thus future strategies towards improving yield in maize populations on soils with low inputs of P fertilizer could be realized by enhancing MPU at the individual plant level while leaving the root-associated fungal community largely unaffected.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
Disrupting mycorrhizal phosphate uptake strongly diminished growth performance.
Zea maysNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Disruption of the MPU in pht1;6 resulted in strongly diminished growth performance”
t0“Neighboring plants divergently modulate effects of loss-of-function in maize mycorrhizal phosphate uptake on host physiology and root fungal microbiota”
Claim · model-written summary
Disruption reduced phosphorus allocation to photosynthetic source leaves.
- Material
- pht1;6e0
- Treatment
- Disruption of the MPUe0
- Outcome
- P allocation to photosynthetic source leavese0
- Direction
- reducede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Disruption of the MPU in pht1;6 resulted in strongly diminished growth performance, in reduced P allocation to photosynthetic source leaves”
t0“Neighboring plants divergently modulate effects of loss-of-function in maize mycorrhizal phosphate uptake on host physiology and root fungal microbiota”
Claim · model-written summary
Disruption caused imbalances in leaf elemental composition beyond phosphorus.
- Material
- pht1;6e0
- Treatment
- Disruption of the MPUe0
- Outcome
- imbalances in leaf elemental composition beyond Pe0
Not reportedComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Disruption of the MPU in pht1;6 resulted in strongly diminished growth performance, in reduced P allocation to photosynthetic source leaves, and in imbalances in leaf elemental composition beyond P”
t0“Neighboring plants divergently modulate effects of loss-of-function in maize mycorrhizal phosphate uptake on host physiology and root fungal microbiota”
Claim · model-written summary
Loss of MPU activity had only a minor effect on the root fungal microbiome, mostly confined to AM fungi.
- Treatment
- loss of MPU activitye0
- Interactor
- AM fungi of the Glomeromycotinae0symbiont
- Outcome
- root-associated fungal microbiomee0
Not reportedComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“a loss of MPU activity had a minor effect on the root-associated fungal microbiome which was almost fully restricted to AM fungi of the Glomeromycotina”
t0“Neighboring plants divergently modulate effects of loss-of-function in maize mycorrhizal phosphate uptake on host physiology and root fungal microbiota”
Claim · model-written summary
Wild-type maize grew better in the presence of pht1;6.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“wt grew better in presence of pht1;6”
t0“Neighboring plants divergently modulate effects of loss-of-function in maize mycorrhizal phosphate uptake on host physiology and root fungal microbiota”
Claim · model-written summary
pht1;6 accumulated little biomass in either mono- or mixed culture.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“pht1;6 accumulated little biomass irrespective of whether it was grown in mono- or mixed culture”
t0“Neighboring plants divergently modulate effects of loss-of-function in maize mycorrhizal phosphate uptake on host physiology and root fungal microbiota”
Claim · model-written summary
Co-culture with wild type enhanced fungal colonization of pht1;6 roots.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“enhanced fungal colonization of its roots in co-culture with wt”
t0“Neighboring plants divergently modulate effects of loss-of-function in maize mycorrhizal phosphate uptake on host physiology and root fungal microbiota”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors suggest a functional MPU is required to maintain maize growth.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“a functional MPU is prerequisite to maintain maize growth”
t0“Neighboring plants divergently modulate effects of loss-of-function in maize mycorrhizal phosphate uptake on host physiology and root fungal microbiota”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors suggest neighboring plants compete for fungal phosphate in low-phosphorus soil.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“neighboring plants competed for AM fungal Pi in low P soil”
t0“Neighboring plants divergently modulate effects of loss-of-function in maize mycorrhizal phosphate uptake on host physiology and root fungal microbiota”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors recommend enhancing MPU in individual maize plants to improve yield in low-input phosphorus soils.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“improving yield in maize populations on soils with low inputs of P fertilizer could be realized by enhancing MPU at the individual plant level while leaving the root-associated fungal community largely unaffected”
t0“Neighboring plants divergently modulate effects of loss-of-function in maize mycorrhizal phosphate uptake on host physiology and root fungal microbiota”
The same questions in other papers
mycorrhiza · quality: general · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
2 papers in the same direction as this paper · 5 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
4 papers more in this group
See all 8 papers →phosphorus · quality: general · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
1 paper in the same direction as this paper · 11 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
9 papers more in this group
See all 13 papers →phosphorus · physiology: photosynthesis · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
9 papers in the same direction as this paper · 17 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
23 papers more in this group
See all 27 papers →mycorrhiza · physiology: photosynthesis · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
30 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
27 papers more in this group
See all 31 papers →loss of function · growth · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
31 papers in the same direction as this paper · 6 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
34 papers more in this group
See all 38 papers →mycorrhiza · growth · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
18 papers in the same direction as this paper · 169 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
184 papers more in this group
See all 188 papers →phosphorus · growth · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
53 papers in the same direction as this paper · 252 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
302 papers more in this group
See all 306 papers →loss of function · physiology: photosynthesis · Zea mays (maize)Results agree
6 papers in the same direction as this paper
- negative
- negative
- negative
3 papers more in this group
See all 7 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.