Linking structure to function in plant-fungal symbioses

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Many plants form symbioses with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF)which increase access to soil mineral nutrients such as phosphorus.Recently, the supervisory team has shown that plants also frequentlyform symbioses with Mucoromycotina "fine root endophytes" (MFRE),and that these associations may be distinct from those with AMF intheir responsiveness to environmental change and in their ability totransfer organic nitrogen alongside mineral phosphorus. However,much of the biology of the plant-MFRE symbiosis remains to beestablished. In particular, we do not yet know how the distribution andfunctional significance of this association is affected by environmentalchange, such as nitrogen availability, or by changes in temperatureand CO2. This project will address this fundamental knowledge gap,combining field studies with laboratory-based methodologies includingisotope tracer, sequencing and imaging techniques