Abstract
More than 80% of the land plants can be colonized by arbuscular mycorrhizal(AM)fungi. The fungi take up numerous micro and macro nutrients via extraradical hyphal networks from the soil, transfer them through intraradical hyphae, and then supply them to the host plants. In this study, we tried to perform functional analysis of inorganic nutrient transporters in mycorrhiza of gramineous crops, rice and sorghum. We generated a rice mycorrhiza-inducible OsPT11-promoter:ORF:GFP construct and introduced into rice plants. The transformants showed strong GFP fluorescent signal only in AM fungi-infected roots. Notably, OsPT11 protein was specifically accumulated on periarbuscular membranes in cortical cells. These transgenic plants will be convenient for quantification of OsPT11 in vital AM roots and clarification of its physiological function. Furthermore, we tried to perform expression analyses of some other nutrient transporter genes as well as phosphate transporter genes in mycorrhiza of rice and sorghum.
