Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Contribute to Phosphorous Uptake and Allocation Strategies of Solidago canadensis in a Phosphorous-Deficient Environment

Shanshan Qi; Jiahao Wang; Lingyun Wan; Zhicong Dai; Dalva Maria da Silva Matos; Daolin Du; Suhelen Egan; Stephen P Bonser; Torsten Thomas; Angela T Moles

doi:10.3389/fpls.2022.831654

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Contribute to Phosphorous Uptake and Allocation Strategies of Solidago canadensis in a Phosphorous-Deficient Environment

Front Plant Sci. 2022 Mar 24:13:831654. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.831654. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Shanshan Qi^{1

2

3}, Jiahao Wang¹, Lingyun Wan⁴, Zhicong Dai^{2

5

6}, Dalva Maria da Silva Matos⁷, Daolin Du², Suhelen Egan⁵, Stephen P Bonser³, Torsten Thomas⁵, Angela T Moles³

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Modern Agricultural Equipment and Technology, Ministry of Education, School of Agricultural Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China.
² School of the Environment Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China.
³ Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁴ Guangxi Botanical Garden of Medicinal Plants, Nanning, China.
⁵ Centre for Marine Science and Innovation, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁶ Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Technology and Material of Water Treatment, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, China.
⁷ Departamento de Hidrobiologia, Federal University of São Carlos, UFSCar, São Carlos, Brazil.

Abstract

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can facilitate the uptake of limiting or inaccessible nutrients by plants. However, the importance of AMF for invasive plants under phosphorus (P) limitation is poorly well understood because of the presence of non-focal microorganisms, such as endophytes or rhizosphere bacteria. In this study, we investigated how an invasive clonal plant Solidago canadensis benefits from the AMF Glomus intraradices by using a completely sterile culturing system, which is composed of aseptic seedlings, a pure AMF strain, and a sterile growth environment. We found that the colonization rate, abundance, and spore production of AMF in the insoluble P treatment was more than twice as much as in the available P treatment. Plant above-ground growth was enhanced almost 50% by AMF in the insoluble P treatment. Importantly, AMF were able to facilitate P acquisition by the plant in insoluble P conditions, allowing plants to have lower investment into below-ground biomass and higher benefit/return for above-ground biomass. This study demonstrated the important contribution that AMF make to plants in phosphate-deficient environments eliminating interference from non-focal microorganisms. Our results also suggest that interaction with AMF could contribute to the invasiveness of clonal plant S. canadensis in a resource-deficient environment.

Keywords: Canada goldenrod; arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; invasive clonal plant; nutrient limitation; phosphorus uptake; sterile culture system.