Fungal Genomics & Biology
Open Access

Development and Functional Diversification of Mycorrhizal Fungi's Symbiosis

Vincent Douglas^{* *}Correspondence: Vincent Douglas, Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA, Email:

Author info »

Description

The ability to aid in the acquisition of rare and important nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen, mycorrhizal fungi are crucial to the evolution, biology, and physiology of terrestrial plants. This makes them important to plant growth. Additionally, they play a significant role in carbon sequestration and have been shown to affect the of microbial and plant communities.

Ectomycorrhiza, arbuscular mycorrhiza, orchid mycorrhiza, and ericoid mycorrhiza are the four most common kinds of mycorrhizal symbioses. According to the host plant and distinctive symbiotic structures, each class is categorised.

The independent evolution of identical symbiotic morphological structures and physiological properties in disparate fungal species offers a notable example of convergence evolution, despite the fact that mycorrhizal fungi are widely diverse in terms of their evolutionary history.

A number of transitions from saprotrophy to mutualism in Dikarya have been explained by comparisons of the genomes of ectomycorrhizal, orchid and ericoid mycorrhizal fungi, wood decayers, and soil decomposers.

These analyses have revealed that different ectomycorrhizal fungi lineages have lost the majority of the genes encoding the lignocellulose-degrading enzymes that were present in their saprotrophic ancestors. This is what accounts for the ectomycorrhizal fungi's decreased ability to acquire C complexed in Soil Organic Matter (SOM) and plant cell walls and, as a result, their growing dependence on the host plant sugars.

It is possible that the range of trophic states found in current ectomycorrhizal fungi is due to their numerous origins from saprotrophic progenitors with a variety of decay capacities, such as soil and litter decomposers and wood decayers with white and brown rot.

Despite their ecological importance, there is still much to learn about the development and functional diversification of mycorrhizal symbionts, as well as the essential traits that enable plant colonisation and nutrient exchange.

Combined analysis of 135 fungal genomes from 62 mycorrhizal species, including 29 novel mycorrhizal genomes, and 73 saprotrophic, endophytic, and pathogenic fungal species.

This study examines significant groups for which there were previously no symbiotic genomes available, such as Russulales, Thelephorales, Phallomycetidae, and Cantharellales, and it roughly doubles the amount of mycorrhizal fungal genomes.

In contrast to what previously attempted in extensive comparative analysis of Agaricomycetidae, this dataset offers the chance to conduct a more analysis of the evolution of saprotrophic capacities. It propose that the early diverging clades of ectomycorrhizal fungi served as the origin of the evolutionary mechanisms at work in Agaricomycetidae. The fundamental adaptations that underlie the convergent evolution of ectomycorrhizal fungi, including the loss of some metabolic functions and the acquisition of small secreted effector-like proteins that may help the symbiotic fungi accommodate within their host plants, in order to assess the gains of ectomycorrhizal lifestyle traits.

Contrast several symbiosis-related functional features as well, including the acquisition of phosphate and nitrogen. Finally, phylostratigraphic technique used to separate lineage-specific and conserved aspects of symbiotic transcriptomes and examine the age distribution of symbiosis-upregulated genes across a group of ectomycorrhizal fungi that are phylogenetically representative. Demonstrate that the shift from saprotrophy to ectomycorrhizal symbiosis is accompanied by widespread losses of lignocellulose-degrading enzymes, co-optation of genes from saprotrophic ancestors to perform new symbiotic functions, diversification of lineage-specific symbiosis-induced genes, proliferation of Transposable Elements (TEs), and divergent genetic innovations that underlie the convergent origins.

Conclusion

Terrestrial plants' biology, physiology, and evolution all depend on mycorrhizal fungus. They assist in obtaining scarce and significant nutrients like phosphate and nitrogen. They have been found to have an impact on the composition of microbial and plant communities and have a key role in carbon sequestration. Analysis of 73 saprotrophic, endophytic, and pathogenic fungal species, 62 mycorrhizal species, including 29 unique symbiotic genomes. The evolutionary processes at work in Agaricomycetidae originated in the early diverging clades of fungus.