P-398 - Characterizing the tripartite interaction between plants, arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi and rhizosphere bacteria

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

09:55 - 11:30

Location: Confex Hall 3

Symbiosis and Mutualism (mycorrhiza and N-fixing Rhizobia)

Presenting Author(s)

JK

Jenna Krumbach

Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology
Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

Author(s)

FS

Franziska Seufert

Food Chemistry and Molecular Sensory Science, Technical University of Munich, Lise-Meitner-Str. 34, 85354 Freising, Germany
Munich, Bayern, Germany
YS

Yang Si

Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology
Potsdam, GERMANY
CD

Corinna Dawid

Prof. Dr.
Food Chemistry and Molecular Sensory Science, Technical University of Munich, Lise-Meitner-Str. 34, 85354 Freising, Germany and Functional Phytometabolomics, Technical University of Munich, Lise-Meitner-Straße 34, 85354 Freising
Munich, Bayern, Germany
CG

Caroline Gutjahr

Prof. Dr.
Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology
Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

Plants interact with multiple microbes in the rhizosphere that influence plant health and growth. Metabolites exuded from plant roots as well as from microbes - comprising a diverse array of compounds such as organic acids, sugars, amino acids, lipids and various secondary metabolites - influence the composition of the rhizosphere microbial community by acting as nutrients, signals and toxins. Plants interact with microorganisms at different levels of intimacy. While rhizosphere bacteria live at the surface of roots, symbionts such as arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi (AMF) grow into roots and colonize the inside of root cells. Here we examine the interaction of AMF and rhizosphere bacteria in a reductionist system, their influence on plant growth and root exudate composition and the influence of root exudate metabolites on the tripartite interaction. We found synergistic influences of the AMF Rhizophagus irregularis and bacteria of the genus Acidovorax sp. (order Burkholderiales) on the performance of the model legume Lotus japonicus. In addition, by untargeted metabolomics we found that R. irregularis and Acidovorax influence the composition of root exudates. We are developing a synthetic root exudate medium (SynEx) to serve as background for testing the impact of root secondary metabolites on bacterial growth. This work will provide insights into the role of metabolites in shaping the interactions of plant roots with microbes.