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Poster

Session: Session 1 Presenting Authors at Posters (Evens)

P-326 - Manipulation in a mutualism: exploring a role for cross-kingdom RNA interference in arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis

Tuesday, July 15, 2025
09:55 - 11:30  
Location: Confex Hall 3
RNA on the move: Advances in Cross-Species communiation &Translational Research

The establishment of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis is known to encompass many intricate signalling processes within the host plant and AM fungus, including signals exchanged between the two. Recently, it has been proposed that such signals may include small RNAs (sRNAs) acting in cross-kingdom RNA interference (ckRNAi). ckRNAi has most commonly been described in pathogenic interactions between plants and microbes, with inter-organismal transport of sRNAs mediated by extracellular vesicles (EVs); more recent evidence suggests its occurrence in mutualistic endosymbioses, although the mechanism of its action in AM symbiosis remains largely unexplored.

 

Here, we present evidence from in silico analyses of M.truncatula sRNAs that are significantly upregulated during AM symbiosis, with predicted targets in the R.irregularis genome. Intriguingly, these include genes involved in fatty acid metabolism, suggesting that host-mediated ckRNAi may benefit the host through modulating nutrient exchange. Gene expression analysis of candidate sRNAs and their predicted targets during AM symbiosis indicates a downregulation of predicted targets correlating with the upregulation of the corresponding sRNA; this further correlates with the presence of these candidate sRNAs in EVs as detected from sRNAseq of M.truncatula EVs. Our evidence suggests that host-mediated ckRNAi may be a key layer of communication in the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis.