Cell division and specification are crucial for plant development and coping with diverse environmental cues. Most land plants rely on symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi to cope with soil nutrient limitations by forming arbuscules in root inner cortex cells. What determines the AM susceptibility of these inner cortex cells is currently unknown. Here we show that DELLA transcriptional regulators control the number of inner cortex cells with an AM-susceptible identity at the root stem cell niche of Medicago truncatula in a dose-dependent manner. Genetic analyses suggest that this activity converges with the well-known mobile SHORT-ROOT transcription factor regulating ground tissue development. Furthermore, we show that MtDELLA1 protein moves from the stele/endodermis to the cortex in the mature part of the root to facilitate arbuscule formation. We propose that the formation of a root inner cortex cell identity controlled by mobile DELLA and SHORT-ROOT is a fundamental basis for AM symbiosis.

The naturally selected extreme traits of zinc/cadmium hyperaccumulation and hypertolerance in Arabidopsis halleri depend on strongly elevated HEAVY ME…

Combining fossil-based and molecular calibrations with data on horizontal gene transfer events, the authors develop a time-calibrated phylogeny of Fungi. This timescale, which integrates analytic uncertainties, suggests an older age of crown Fungi (1,401–896 million years ago), as well as a minimum age for ancient interactions involving fungi and the algal ancestors of embryophytes in terrestrial ecosystems (1,253–797 Ma).

Legume symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing bacteria is controlled by a cascade of signaling events leading to root nodule development. While plant cell-surface receptors initiate this process, the link bet...

Functional and genomic studies on the differences between the gametophyte and sporophyte life phases of plants remain scarce, yet unraveling these ...

A super-pangenome analysis incorporating 123 newly sequenced bryophyte genomes reveals that bryophytes exhibit a larger number of unique and lineage-specific gene families than vascular plants.

Large language models (LLMs) are rapidly permeating scientific research, yet their capabilities in plant molecular biology remain largely uncharacterized. Here, we present MoBiPlant, the first compreh...

DNA methylation loss at transposable elements (TEs) can affect neighboring genes and be epigenetically inherited in plants, yet the determinants and significance of this additional system of inheritan...

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Products encoded by the leguminous plant Medicago direct the differentiation of the bacterial partner in symbiosis.

The molecular machinery for replicating and repairing DNA accurately is critically important for life and highly conserved across the Tree of Life. Here we show that two major lineages of fungi, Glome...