ERC Starting Grant · 2024
The arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis between plants and symbiotic soil fungi confers key nutritional benefits to plants: AM fungi increase plant productivity by up to 30% by improving mineral nutrient uptake from the soil. In exchange for these nutrients, plants transfer more than one gigaton of photosynthetically fixed carbon each year to the AM fungal network in the soil. This carbon transfer has a major impact not just on plant and fungal physiology, but also on the global carbon cycle. My previous work identified a molecular pathway in plant roots that is activated during fungal colonization of root cells and transfers fixed carbon to AM fungi in the form of lipids. This finding…
From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.