| description |
In terrestrial ecosystems plants take up phosphate predominantly via association with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). We discovered that the loss of responsiveness to AMF in the rice deletion mutant hebiba is encoded by the alpha/beta fold hydrolase, DWARF 14 LIKE (D14L), which is one of the 26 deleted genes. It is a component of an intracellular receptor complex involved in the detection of the smoke-compound karrikin. On the basis of the early and pronounced hebiba mutant phenotype, we hypothesized that functional D14L is required for the perception of AM fungi prior to contact. Germinated spore exudates of AMF activate pre-contact plant responses. Therefore, we used RNAseq to monitor the transcriptional changes of hebiba and wild type roots in response to germinated spore exudates, and also karrikin, over the first 24 hours post treatment. WT seedlings were treated with GSE, Karrikin or a mock and iho seedlings with GSE or a mock. Root material was collected for sequencing at 0, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 24 hours. This gave a total of 27 samples (WT+Mock: 6, WT+GSE: 5, WT+Karrikin:5, iho+Mock:6, iho+GSE: 5). |