Ethylene-dependent/ethylene-independent ABA regulation of tomato plants colonized by arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi.

We investigated the relationship between ABA and ethylene regulating the formation of the arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) symbiosis in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants and tried to define the specific roles played by each of these phytohormones in the mycorrhization process. We analysed the impact of ABA biosynthesis inhibition on mycorrhization by Glomus intraradices in transgenic tomato plants with an altered ethylene pathway. We also studied the effects on mycorrhization in sitiens plants treated with the aminoethoxyvinyl glycine hydrochloride (AVG) ethylene biosynthesis inhibitor and supplemented with ABA. In addition, the expression of plant and fungal genes involved in the mycorrhization process was studied. ABA biosynthesis inhibition qualitatively altered the parameters of mycorrhization in accordance with the plant's ethylene perception and ethylene biosynthesis abilities. Inhibition of ABA biosynthesis in wild-type plants negatively affected all the mycorrhization parameters studied, while tomato mutants impaired in ethylene synthesis only showed a reduced arbuscular abundance in mycorrhizal roots. Inhibition of ethylene synthesis in ABA-deficient sitiens plants increased the intensity of mycorrhiza development, while ABA application rescued arbuscule abundance in the root's mycorrhizal zones. The results of our study show an antagonistic interaction between ABA and ethylene, and different roles of each of the two hormones during AM formation. This suggests that a dual ethylene-dependent/ethylene-independent mechanism is involved in ABA regulation of AM formation.

Martín-Rodríguez JÁ ，León-Morcillo R ，Vierheilig H ，Ocampo JA ，Ludwig-Müller J ，García-Garrido JM ... -  《-》

Mycorrhization of the notabilis and sitiens tomato mutants in relation to abscisic acid and ethylene contents.

We examined whether the reduced mycorrhization of abscisic acid (ABA)-deficient tomato mutants correlates with their incapacity in ABA biosynthesis and whether this effect is dependent on ethylene production. The mycorrhization of notabilis and sitiens mutants, which have different ABA deficiencies and an excess of ethylene production, was analyzed. Comparative analysis of the ABA-deficient tomato mutants showed both quantitative and qualitative differences in the pattern of arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) colonization between the two tomato mutant phenotypes. The sitiens mutant showed a great limitation in fungal colonization (mycorrhizal intensity and arbuscule formation) well correlated with their incapacity in ABA biosynthesis. The notabilis plants, which maintained normal ABA levels in roots under our experimental conditions, appeared to be less affected in their capacity for AM formation, and only a decrease in mycorrhizal intensity was noted at the end of the mycorrhization process. Blockage of ABA formation after tungstate application resulted in a reduction in mycorrhization of wild-type tomato plants. The transcript accumulation of the mycorrhiza-responsive LePT4 gene (tomato phosphate transporter) was clearly associated with the ABA content and mycorrhiza development in roots, as the tungstate treatment in wild-type plants and the inherent ABA deficiency in sitiens mutants led to a complete abolishment of their expression. Our results suggest that the decrease in arbuscular abundance in mycorrhizal sitiens roots is directly associated with their ABA biosynthesis deficiency, and the accumulation of ethylene, as a consequence of ABA deficiency in the mutants, primarily affects mycorrhizal intensity.

Rodriguez JA ，Morcillo RL ，Vierheilig H ，Ocampo JA ，Ludwig-Müller J ，Garrido JM ... -  《-》

Variations in the mycorrhization characteristics in roots of wild-type and ABA-deficient tomato are accompanied by specific transcriptomic alterations.

Garrido JM ，Morcillo RJ ，Rodríguez JA ，Bote JA ... -  《MOLECULAR PLANT-MICROBE INTERACTIONS》

Gene expression analyses in tomato near isogenic lines provide evidence for ethylene and abscisic acid biosynthesis fine-tuning during arbuscular mycorrhiza development.

Fracetto GGM ，Peres LEP ，Lambais MR 《-》

Altered pattern of arbuscular mycorrhizal formation in tomato ethylene mutants.

de Los Santos RT ，Vierheilig H ，Ocampo JA ，Garrido JM ... -  《-》