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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Symbiotic Interactions
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1466279
This article is part of the Research Topic Highlights of iMMM2023 - International Molecular Mycorrhiza Meeting View all 5 articles

HcZnT2 is a highly mycorrhiza-induced zinc transporter from Hebeloma cylindrosporum in association with pine

Provisionally accepted
Tania Ho Plágaro Tania Ho Plágaro 1,2Muhammad Usman Muhammad Usman 3Janne Swinnen Janne Swinnen 4Joske Ruytinx Joske Ruytinx 4Françoise Gosti Françoise Gosti 3Isabelle Gaillard Isabelle Gaillard 3Sabine D. Zimmermann Sabine D. Zimmermann 5*
  • 1 IPSiM, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, INRAE, Institut Agro, Montpellier, France, Montpellier, France
  • 2 Department of Soil and Plant Microbiology, Estación Experimental del Zaidín (EEZ), CSIC, Granada, Spain, Granade, Spain
  • 3 IPSiM Institute of Plant Science in Montpellier CNRS UMR5004, Montpellier, Languedoc-Roussillon, France
  • 4 Research Groups Microbiology and Plant Genetics, Department of Bioengineering Science, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussel, Belgium, Brussels, Belgium
  • 5 IPSiM, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, INRAE, Institut Agro, Montpellier, France, IPSiM Institute of Plant Science in Montpellier CNRS UMR5004, Montpellier, France

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Zinc (Zn) shortage is a common micronutrient deficiency affecting plants worldwide, while Zn toxicity may occur when this metal is in excess. Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi are known to be able to modulate the transfer of macro-and microelements, among them Zn, to the plant. However, the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. We identified the HcZnT2 gene from the ECM fungus Hebeloma cylindrosporum, encoding a member of the Cation Diffusion Facilitator (CDF) family including Zn transporters, and analyzed its transcriptional regulation, the transport function by yeast complementation experiments, and its subcellular localization using a GFP fusion protein in yeast. HcZnT2 is highly induced during mycorrhization of Pinus pinaster, and upregulated in presence of the host plant root even without any direct contact. However, HcZnT2 is repressed by Zn excess conditions. By functional expression in yeast, our results strongly support the ability of HcZnT2 to transport Zn and, to a lesser extent, manganese. HcZnT2 localization was associated with the endoplasmic reticulum of yeast. Mycorrhizal gene activation at low external Zn suggests that the Zn transporter HcZnT2 might be important for the early establishment of the ECM symbiosis during Zn deficiency, rather than under Zn excess. HcZnT2 arises as an extremely remarkable candidate playing a key role in Zn homeostasis and regulation in ectomycorrhiza.

    Keywords: ectomycorrhizal symbiosis, Cation Diffusion Facilitator CDF, Hebeloma cylindrosporum, Mycorrhizal gene activation, Pinus pinaster, yeast complementation, Zn transporter

    Received: 17 Jul 2024; Accepted: 01 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ho Plágaro, Usman, Swinnen, Ruytinx, Gosti, Gaillard and Zimmermann. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Sabine D. Zimmermann, IPSiM, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, INRAE, Institut Agro, Montpellier, France, IPSiM Institute of Plant Science in Montpellier CNRS UMR5004, Montpellier, France

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