How do arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi enhance drought resistance of Leymus chinensis?

作者：Xiaojiang Yang, Zhen Wang, Jing Li, P.C. Struik, Shenyi Jiang, Ke Jin, Huaibin Mu · 发表于：BMC Plant Biology · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1186/s12870-025-06412-1 · 被引用次数：13 · 研究领域：Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Interactions、Fungal Biology and Applications、Plant-Microbe Interactions and Immunity

BACKGROUND: Leymus chinensis is a vital, dominant grass species in Eurasian temperate grasslands, including the Inner Mongolian steppe. L. chinensis exhibits enhanced drought tolerance through symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). The physiological mechanisms behind this drought resistance need to be unraveled. A pot experiment was conducted with four inoculation treatments (inoculation with Funneliformis mosseae, with Claroideoglomus etunicatum, or with both, and no inoculation) and three drought treatments (no drought (75.00% field capacity), mild drought (56.25% field capacity), severe drought (37.50% field capacity)) to analyze how AMF enhance drought resistance of L. chinensis. RESULTS: The results showed that drought stress inhibited the growth of L. chinensis, depending on its intensity, whereas AMF inoculation significantly improved growth and alleviated the effects of drought stress. Regardless of drought conditions, AMF inoculation significantly enhanced key biochemistry parameters, including soluble sugar concentration and antioxidant enzyme activities, ultimately promoting plant productivity. Structural equation models (SEMs) further showed that the increase in biomass of L. chinensis inoculated with AMF during mild drought was primarily due to reduced catalase activity and increased cytokinin concentration by increased soluble sugar concentration. However, under severe drought, the increase in biomass of L. chinensis inoculated with AMF was associate...