The application of Arabidopsis thaliana in studying tripartite interactions among plants, beneficial fungal endophytes and biotrophic plant-parasitic nematodes

Alfonso Martinuz, Getaneh Zewdu, Nicole Ludwig, Florian Grundler, Richard A. Sikora, Alexander Schouten

The research demonstrated that Arabidopsis can be used as a model system for studying plant-nematode-endophyte tripartite interactions; thus, opening new possibilities for further characterizing the molecular mechanisms behind these interactions. Arabidopsis has been established as an important model system for studying plant biology and plant-microbe interactions. We show that this plant can also be used for studying the tripartite interactions among plants, the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita and a beneficial endophytic isolate of Fusarium oxysporum, strain Fo162. In various plant species, Fo162 can systemically reduce M. incognita infection development and fecundity. Here it is shown that Fo162 can also colonize A. thaliana roots without causing disease symptoms, thus behaving as a typical endophyte. As observed for other plants, this endophyte could not migrate from the roots into the shoots and leaves. Direct inoculation of the leaves also did not result in colonization of the plant. A significant increase in plant fresh weight, root length and average root diameter was observed, suggesting the promotion of plant growth by the endophyte. The inoculation of A. thaliana with F. oxysporum strain Fo162 also resulted in a significant reduction in the number of M. incognita juveniles infecting the roots and ultimately the number of galls produced. This was also observed in a split-root experiment, in which the endophyte and nematode were spatially separated. The usefulness of Arabidopsis opens new possibilities for further dissecting complex tripartite interactions at the molecular and biochemical level.