Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) for Sustainable Soil and Plant Health in Salt-Affected Soils

Abstract

AMF have the potential to ameliorate salt stress and improve plant growth. AMF-mediated amelioration is attributed due to accumulation of different solutes and higher uptake of water and nutrients under salinity conditions. AMF symbiosis also regulates various plant physiological and biochemical processes such as water potential, ionic balance, stomata conductance, maintenance of photosynthesis, reduction of oxidative damage through antioxidant production and hormone-mediated signal transduction. However, the ultimate mechanisms that allow AMF plants a higher tolerance to salinity are still in infancy. Molecular bases of regulation of ionic homeostatis, cation to proton antiporter and cyclic nucleotide-gated channels under AMF symbiosis are largely unknown. Thus investigation on these aspects on arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis under salinity is a promising field that should shed further light on new mechanisms involved in the enhanced tolerance of AM plants to salt stress. Further, transcriptomic analysis of some AMF is a promising tool that could provide new data regarding fungal genes that may also participate in the response of AMF symbiosis to salinity stress.