Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) form symbiosis with approximately 80% of land plants. The arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis has been extensively studied, however, most studies have been conducted from the perspective of the plant, and there is little known about the decision making and foraging behaviors of the fungi themself. In the soil, multiple AMF cohabit but little is known about how they interact with each other. Interaction between different species of fungi has been done on wood decomposers which unraveled some programmed cell death mechanisms. However, with AMF, it is difficult to study the interaction of two individuals due to their obligate biotrophy and very sparse mycelium.
In this project we will combine microfluidic soil chip systems with AMF symbiotic systems. The soil chips (developed in the team) are ideal for studying hyphal architecture and monitoring growth patterns of hyphae and mycelia over time. They can provide a useful tool to help us understand the hyphal behavior of AMF outside of plant tissues during the symbiosis. With this system we can measure how fungi forage for resources in a complex and microscopically heterogenous environment, and study their strategies implemented to explore their environment. We can also study the interaction between species at the micrometer scale and single out individual hyphae to gain insight into how fungal tips respond.
In the team, one species of AMF has been studied in soil chips (Hammer et al., 2024), but AMF form a very diverse group with very different morphological and physiological traits. It is therefore unknown if other AMF species behave the same way and present the same characteristics in the soil chip.
During this project you will be involved in all aspects of fsetting up and running the experiment, fabricating the soil chips, inoculating them, monitoring the fungal growth using microscopy and analyzing the images and results.
Duration: 45-60 cr MSc thesis
Contact: Ayla Mongés ayla.monges@biol.lu.se, Kristin Aleklett Kadish kristin.aleklett_kadish@biol.lu.se