An N-acetylglucosamine transporter required for arbuscular mycorrhizal symbioses in rice and maize

Nadal, Marina; Sawers, Ruairidh; Naseem, Shamoon; Bassin, Barbara; Kulicke, Corinna; Sharman, Abigail; An, Gynheung; An, Kyungsook; Ahern, Kevin R.; Romag, Amanda; Brutnell, Thomas P.; Gutjahr, Caroline; Geldner, Niko; Roux, Christophe; Martinoia, Enrico; Konopka, James B. and Paszkowski, Uta (2017): An N-acetylglucosamine transporter required for arbuscular mycorrhizal symbioses in rice and maize. In: Nature Plants, Vol. 3, No. 6, 17073

Abstract

Most terrestrial plants, including crops, engage in beneficial interactions with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Vital to the association is mutual recognition involving the release of diffusible signals into the rhizosphere. Previously, we identified the maize no perception 1 (nope1) mutant to be defective in early signalling. Here, we report cloning of ZmNope1 on the basis of synteny with rice. NOPE1 encodes a functional homologue of the Candida albicans N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) transporter NGT1, and represents the first plasma membrane GlcNAc transporter identified from plants. In C. albicans, exposure to GlcNAc activates cell signalling and virulence. Similarly, in Rhizophagus irregularis treatment with rice wild-type but not nope1 root exudates induced transcriptome changes associated with signalling function, suggesting a requirement of NOPE1 function for presymbiotic fungal reprogramming.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Biology > Department Biology I
• Subjects: 500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology
• ISSN: 2055-026X
• Language: English