Untangling Symbiotic Networks with Reverse Genetics
Our lab is developing cutting-edge genetic tools to understand how ectomycorrhizal fungi form symbiotic partnerships with trees. These underground alliances are driven in part by fungal signals called Mycorrhiza-induced Small Secreted Proteins (MiSSPs): these help fungi communicate with plant roots and establish a partnership. In collaboration with Kevin Garcia’s lab at NC State University, PhD student Brittany Long is using RNA interference in the fungus Hebeloma cylindrosporum to knock down fungal production of these MiSSPs in order to understand what they do for symbiosis. In the next year, we plan to develop CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing to further study how these proteins shape the success and specificity of these symbioses. By tracking how symbiosis develops when MiSSPs and other important proteins are absent or altered, we’re building flexible genetic tools that will allow us to uncover how these partnerships evolve, how compatibility between partners is determined, and how these microscopic interactions scale up to influence entire forest ecosystems.
