TY - JOUR

T1 - Macroevolutionary decline in mycorrhizal colonization and chemical defense responsiveness to mycorrhization

AU - Formenti, Ludovico

AU - Ahlstrand, Natalie Iwanycki

AU - Hassemer, Gustavo

AU - Glauser, Gaëtan

AU - van den Hoogen, Johan

AU - Rønsted, Nina

AU - van der Heijden, Marcel

AU - Crowther, Thomas W.

AU - Rasmann, Sergio

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) have evolved associations with roots of 60% plant species, but the net benefit for plants vary broadly from mutualism to parasitism. Yet, we lack a general understanding of the evolutionary and ecological forces driving such variation. To this end, we conducted a comparative phylogenetic experiment with 24 species of Plantago, encompassing worldwide distribution, to address the effect of evolutionary history and environment on plant growth and chemical defenses in response to AMF colonization. We demonstrate that different species within one plant genus vary greatly in their ability to associate with AMF, and that AMF arbuscule colonization intensity decreases monotonically with increasing phylogenetic branch length, but not with concomitant changes in pedological and climatic conditions across species. Moreover, we demonstrate that species with the highest colonization levels are also those that change their defensive chemistry the least. We propose that the costs imposed by high AMF colonization in terms of reduced changes in secondary chemistry might drive the observed macroevolutionary decline in mycorrhization.

AB - Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) have evolved associations with roots of 60% plant species, but the net benefit for plants vary broadly from mutualism to parasitism. Yet, we lack a general understanding of the evolutionary and ecological forces driving such variation. To this end, we conducted a comparative phylogenetic experiment with 24 species of Plantago, encompassing worldwide distribution, to address the effect of evolutionary history and environment on plant growth and chemical defenses in response to AMF colonization. We demonstrate that different species within one plant genus vary greatly in their ability to associate with AMF, and that AMF arbuscule colonization intensity decreases monotonically with increasing phylogenetic branch length, but not with concomitant changes in pedological and climatic conditions across species. Moreover, we demonstrate that species with the highest colonization levels are also those that change their defensive chemistry the least. We propose that the costs imposed by high AMF colonization in terms of reduced changes in secondary chemistry might drive the observed macroevolutionary decline in mycorrhization.

U2 - 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106632

DO - 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106632

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 37168575

VL - 26

JO - iScience

JF - iScience

SN - 2589-0042

IS - 5

M1 - 106632

ER -