Genomic traces of symbiosis loss: A symbiosis between certain bacteria and their plant hosts delivers fixed nitrogen to the plants. Griesmann et al. sequenced several plant genomes to analyze why nitrogen-fixing symbiosis is irregularly scattered through the evolutionary tree (see the Perspective by Nagy). Various genomes carried traces of lost pathways that could have supported nitrogen-fixing symbiosis. It seems that this symbiosis, which relies on multiple pathways and complex interorganismal signaling, is susceptible to selection and prone to being lost over evolutionary time. Science , this issue p. eaat1743 ; see also p. 125

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) establish symbiotic associations with most terrestrial plants. These soil microorganisms enhance the plant’s nutrient uptake by extending the root absorbing area. In return, the symbiont receives plant carbohydrates for the completion of its life cycle. AMF also helps plants to cope with biotic and abiotic stresses such as salinity, drought, extreme temperature, heavy metal, diseases, and pathogens. For abiotic stresses, the mechanisms of adaptation of AMF to these stresses are generally linked to increased hydromineral nutrition, ion selectivity, gene regulation, production of osmolytes, and the synthesis of phytohormones and antioxidants. Regarding the biotic stresses, AMF are involved in pathogen resistance including competition for colonization sites and improvement of the plant’s defense system. Furthermore, AMF have a positive impact on ecosystems. They improve the quality of soil aggregation, drive the structure of plant and bacteria communities, and enhance ecosystem stability. Thus, a plant colonized by AMF will use more of these adaptation mechanisms compared to a plant without mycorrhizae. In this review, we present the contribution of AMF on plant growth and performance in stressed environments.

Root endosymbioses vitally contribute to plant nutrition and fitness worldwide. Nitrogen-fixing root nodulation, confined to four plant orders, encompasses two distinct types of associations, the interaction of legumes (Fabales) with rhizobia bacteria and actinorhizal symbioses, where the bacterial symbionts are actinomycetes of the genus Frankia . Although several genetic components of the host–symbiont interaction have been identified in legumes, the genetic basis of actinorhiza formation is unknown. Here, we show that the receptor-like kinase gene SymRK , which is required for nodulation in legumes, is also necessary for actinorhiza formation in the tree Casuarina glauca. This indicates that both types of nodulation symbiosis share genetic components. Like several other legume genes involved in the interaction with rhizobia, SymRK is also required for the interaction with arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) fungi. We show that SymRK is involved in AM formation in C. glauca as well and can restore both nodulation and AM symbioses in a Lotus japonicus symrk mutant. Taken together, our results demonstrate that SymRK functions as a vital component of the genetic basis for both plant–fungal and plant–bacterial endosymbioses and is conserved between legumes and actinorhiza-forming Fagales.

One of the responses of plants to low sources of external phosphorus (P) is to modify root architecture. In Arabidopsis thaliana plantlets grown on low P, the primary root length (PRL) is reduced whereas lateral root growth is promoted. By using the Bay‐0 × Shahdara recombinant inbred line (RIL) population, we have mapped three quantitative trait loci (QTL) involved in the root growth response to low P. The Shahdara alleles at these three QTL promote the response of the primary root to low P (i.e. root length reduction). One of these QTL, LPR1, located in a 2.8 Mb region at the top of chromosome 1, explains 52% of the variance of the PRL. We also detected a single QTL associated with primary root cell elongation in response to low P which colocalizes with LPR1. LPR1 does not seem to be involved in other typical P‐starvation responses such as growth and density of root hairs, excretion of acid phosphatases, anthocyanin accumulation or the transcriptional induction of the P transporter Pht1;4. LPR1 might highlight new aspects of root growth that are revealed specifically under low P conditions.