The mutualistic arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis arose in land plants more than 450 million years ago and is still widely found in all major land plant lineages. Despite its broad taxonomic distribution, little is known about the molecular components underpinning symbiosis outside of flowering plants. The ARBUSCULAR RECEPTOR-LIKE KINASE (ARK) is required for sustaining AM symbiosis in distantly related angiosperms. Here, we demonstrate that ARK has an equivalent role in symbiosis maintenance in the bryophyte Marchantia paleacea and is part of a broad AM genetic program conserved among land plants. In addition, our comparative transcriptome analysis identified evolutionarily conserved expression patterns for several genes in the core symbiotic program required for presymbiotic signaling, intracellular colonization, and nutrient exchange. This study provides insights into the molecular pathways that consistently associate with AM symbiosis across land plants and identifies an ancestral role for ARK in governing symbiotic balance.

中文翻译：

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受体样激酶 ARK 控制陆地植物的共生平衡


互惠的丛枝菌根 (AM) 共生现象在 4.5 亿多年前就出现在陆地植物中，并且仍然广泛存在于所有主要的陆地植物谱系中。尽管其分类学分布广泛，但人们对开花植物之外支撑共生的分子成分知之甚少。丛枝受体样激酶 (ARK) 是维持远缘被子植物 AM 共生所必需的。在这里，我们证明 ARK 在苔藓植物 Marchantia papeaea 的共生维持中具有同等的作用，并且是陆地植物中保守的广泛 AM 遗传程序的一部分。此外，我们的比较转录组分析确定了共生前信号、细胞内定植和营养物质交换所需的核心共生程序中几个基因的进化保守表达模式。这项研究提供了对与陆地植物 AM 共生一致相关的分子途径的见解，并确定了 ARK 在控制共生平衡中的祖先作用。