Sufficient phosphate supply is crucial for crop production, but extensive use of phosphate fertilizers has led to a depletion of this non-renewable resource and considerable environmental degradation

One of the strategies for sustainable crop production is to utilize arbuscular mycorrhizal (am) symbiosis in agriculture, an ancient association that occurs to ~72% of the flowering plants. Roots of the plant host often take up substantial phosphate from the am fungal symbiont through am-specific h+/phosphate transporters. Although the mechanism of the mycorrhizal phosphate acquisition has been investigated, profiling of the intracellular phosphate levels during different am symbioses has not been done. Using a plant-specific, genetically encoded phosphate biosensor and a highly effective experimental system to trace phosphate translocation from the fungi to the roots, i will visualize the intracellular phosphate profiles during different am symbioses spatially and temporally and characterize the roles of the am symbiosis-induced phosphate transporters during the symbiotic phosphate uptake. The outcome of this research will provide novel and fundamental knowledge of phosphate dynamics during different am symbioses.