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Poster

Session: Session 1 Presenting Authors at Posters (Odds)

P-407 - Evolution and functioning of symbiotic transcription factor complexes

Monday, July 14, 2025
13:30 - 15:15  
Location: Confex Hall 3
Symbiosis and Mutualism (mycorrhiza and N-fixing Rhizobia)
Arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis (AMS) evolved 450 million years ago and is the most widespread symbiosis in plants. Multiple transcription factors (TFs) mediate timely and spatially controlled transcriptional reprogramming to establish and maintain a functional symbiosis. For example, TFs of the GRAS family play distinct roles at different stages during AMS in angiosperms. However, how specific functions of these TFs are achieved remains largely unexplored. The GRAS family is highly duplicated in angiosperms, complicating a systematic dissection of single gene functions due to genetic and functional redundancy. The liverwort Marchantia paleacea exhibits comparably low genetic redundancy and has been established as the first non-vascular plant model to study AMS, allowing to disentangle functions of evolutionary conserved and diversified TFs. In this project, we aim to understand how symbiotic TFs regulate AMS and achieve functional specificity. We hypothesize that the formation of unique and transient TF complexes regulated temporally and spatially provide this specificity. To tackle this, we are generating single and higher order mutants of all 20 GRAS TFs in M. paleacea. Using loss and gain of function approaches combined with proximity-dependent interactomics of known symbiotic TFs and newly identified candidates in Marchantia paleacea, we will further decipher TF functions in AMS and shed light on the molecular mechanisms underlying functional specificity.