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Plant nutrient transporter regulation in arbuscular mycorrhizas

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Abstract

This review discusses the role arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi play in the regulation of plant nutrient transporter genes. Many plant nutrient transporter genes appear to be transcriptionally regulated by a feed-back mechanism that reduces their expression when the plant reaches an optimal level of nutrition. Their down-regulation in mycorrhizal roots, therefore, would be predicted as a result of symbiotic function. A variety of studies on Pi- Zn- and ammonium- or nitrate-transporter genes from two plant species indirectly support this model. For example, one study showed that the expression of the high-affinity Pi-transporter MtPT2 within mycorrhizal roots of Medicago truncatulawas inversely correlated with the concentration of P within the shoots, which suggested that P supply from the fungus influenced this gene's expression. However, there is some evidence that these plant nutrient transporters are also down-regulated within mycorrhizal roots by a mechanism not involving nutrient supply by the fungus. Carbon demand by the fungus may be one factor that can influence their expression within mycorrhizal roots.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant Nutrition Programme, Building 301, Risø National Laboratory, Roskilde, DK4000, Denmark

    Stephen H. Burleigh

  2. Novo Nordisk Engineering A/S, Bagsværd, DK2880, Denmark

    Iben Ellegaard Bechmann

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  1. Stephen H. Burleigh
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  2. Iben Ellegaard Bechmann
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Correspondence to Stephen H. Burleigh.

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Burleigh, S.H., Bechmann, I.E. Plant nutrient transporter regulation in arbuscular mycorrhizas. Plant and Soil 244, 247–251 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020227232140

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020227232140

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