Development of Molecular Tools For Detecting Arbuscular Mycorrhizal fungi In The Environment

Arbuscular Mycorrhiza Fungi (AMF) are vital components of the microbial soil community, forming the most commonly occurring underground network, probably the oldest and largest symbiotic association between the roots of more than 80% of all terrestrial plant species.

AMF help plants in several ways such as improving plant fitness by increasing soil health, seedling establishment, plant fecundity, tolerance to some root pathogens, and improving the uptake of soil nutrients, especially poor mobility nutrients such as phosphorus. This plays an important role in carbon and nitrogen recycling, sequestration of toxic heavy metals, water relation and formation etc. In turn, AMF themselves depend on the plant for carbon nutrition.

This study focuses on conserved protein-encoding housekeeping as well as functional symbiotic associated genes of these fungi, which can serve as molecular trait indicators, and may open opportunities to develop agriculturally important AMF isolates for sustainable agriculture, and industrial and environmental management for rapidly changing climate adaptability and production.