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Arbuscular mycorrhiza: A new role for N-acetylglucosamine

Nature Plants volume 3, Article number: 17085 (2017) Cite this article

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The first N-acetylglucosamine transporter to be functionally characterized in plants has an unexpected role in root colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in rice.

A maize mutant named nope1 (for ‘no perception’), described more than ten years ago, is affected in the early steps of AMF colonization. In the present study, following mapping of the Zea mays Zmnope1 chromosomal position, the causal gene is identified based on transcriptional activity of genes in the rice syntenic region, followed by a reverse genetic approach in both rice and maize. It is a 12-transmembrane domain member of a superfamily of small molecule transporters. The authors demonstrate that Oryza sativa OsNOPE1 can specifically transport GlcNAc by functional complementation of a Candida albicans mutant, and perform uptake experiments in both rice roots and Arabidopsis protoplasts. Comparison of pre-germinated AMF transcriptional responses to wild-type (WT) and Osnope1 root exudates suggests that OsNOPE1 activity strongly affects fungal signal transduction and metabolism. On the other hand, WT and Osnope1 root exudates induce similar levels of new hyphal apices as strigolactone treatment, suggesting that OsNOPE1 is not involved in the secretion of such pre-symbiotic compound.

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Figure 1: The main stages of plant root colonization by AMF and putative role of GlcNAc.

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  1. the Laboratory of Plant-Microbe Interactions (LIPM), Université de Toulouse, INRA, CNRS, Castanet-Tolosan, 31326, France

    Benoit Lefebvre

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  1. Benoit Lefebvre
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Correspondence to Benoit Lefebvre.

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Lefebvre, B. Arbuscular mycorrhiza: A new role for N-acetylglucosamine. Nature Plants 3, 17085 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nplants.2017.85

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