Genomic basis of ecological and evolutionary success in the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

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Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are an ecologically important group of organisms that form mutualistic associations with the roots of over 80% of land plants and many economically important crops. In this symbiosis, the fungus increases the plant`s uptake of nutrients, such as phosphate and nitrate, from the soil while the plant provides the carbohydrates (sugars) necessary for the fungus to survive and propagate. AMF therefore represent important "carbon" sinks. They are also considered "keystone mutualists" in terrestrial ecosystems because their presence in the soil is correlated with an increase in the diversity of plants and soil microbes. In addition to their obvious ecological importance, AMF are interesting to study because of their unique cellular and evolutionary features. Their cells are unique as each contains multiple and, supposedly, divergent nuclei. They are also thought to have evolved for more than 500 million years in the absence of sexual reproduction. Altogether, these features are at odds compared to most eukaryotes but, despite this, virtually nothing is known about their genetics and genomics. This is significant because most of the information necessary for understanding their ecological and evolutionary peculiarities is encoded in their genomes.