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Molecular Signal Processing
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Biochemistry of Plant Interactions
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The measurement of uncharacterized pools of biological molecules through techniques such as metabarcoding, metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, metabolomics, and metaproteomics produces large, multivariate datasets. Analyses of these datasets have successfully been borrowed from community ecology to characterize the molecular diversity of samples (ɑ-diversity) and to assess how these profiles change in response to experimental treatments or across gradients (β-diversity). However, sample preparation and data collection methods generate biases and noise which confound molecular diversity estimates and require special attention. Here, we examine how technical biases and noise that are introduced into multivariate molecular data affect the estimation of the components of diversity (i.e., total number of different molecular species, or entities; total number of molecules; and the abundance distribution of molecular entities). We then explore under which conditions these biases affect the measurement of ɑ- and β-diversity and highlight how novel methods commonly used in community ecology can be adopted to improve the interpretation and integration of multivariate molecular data.
Publications
Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis modulates plant‐herbivore interactions. Still, how it shapes the overall plant defence strategy and the mechanisms involved remain unclear. We investigated how AM symbiosis simultaneously modulates plant resistance and tolerance to a shoot herbivore, and explored the underlying mechanisms. Bioassays with Medicago truncatula plants were used to study the effect of the AM fungus Rhizophagus irregularis on plant resistance and tolerance to Spodoptera exigua herbivory. By performing molecular and chemical analyses, we assessed the impact of AM symbiosis on herbivore‐triggered phosphate (Pi)‐ and jasmonate (JA)‐related responses. Upon herbivory, AM symbiosis led to an increased leaf Pi content by boosting the mycorrhizal Pi‐uptake pathway. This enhanced both plant tolerance and herbivore performance. AM symbiosis counteracted the herbivore‐triggered JA burst, reducing plant resistance. To disentangle the role of the mycorrhizal Pi‐uptake pathway in the plant\'s response to herbivory, we used the mutant line ha1‐2, impaired in the H+‐ATPase gene HA1, which is essential for Pi‐uptake via the mycorrhizal pathway. We found that mycorrhiza‐triggered enhancement of herbivore performance was compromised in ha1‐2 plants. AM symbiosis thus affects the defence pattern of M. truncatula by altering resistance and tolerance simultaneously. We propose that the mycorrhizal Pi‐uptake pathway is involved in the modulation of the plant defence strategy.