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This review aims to explore advanced imaging techniques that visualize interactions between roots and mycorrhizal fungi. Understanding these interactions is crucial for improving plant health and ecosystem functions.

July 5, 2026Open Access

Novel Imaging Approaches for Visualising Root-Mycorrhizal Fungal Interactions

Key Points

This review aims to explore advanced imaging techniques that visualize interactions between roots and mycorrhizal fungi. Understanding these interactions is crucial for improving plant health and ecosystem functions.
Review of novel imaging approaches such as micro-CT, XRF, XANES spectroscopy, PET, and hyperspectral imaging.
Evaluation of new AI-driven software for analyzing complex imaging data.
Discussion of techniques for in-field tracking of mycorrhizal systems across multiple scales.
Advanced imaging allows non-destructive visualization of mycorrhizal fungi and root structures in three dimensions.
Tracking metabolic processes and nutrient exchange with techniques like FNPs and PET shows significant insights into fungal interactions.
AI-powered analyses provide high-throughput capabilities to manage large datasets from diverse imaging sources.

Abstract

Mycorrhizal fungi form essential symbiotic relationships with plant roots, facilitating nutrient exchange and promoting plant health. Understanding their interactions can benefit from advanced imaging techniques capable of visualising nutrient exchange and structural colonisation at subcellular resolutions across large sample sizes. This review explores novel imaging approaches that are revolutionising our understanding of root-mycorrhizal fungal symbioses. Several techniques can now visualise and characterise mycorrhizal fungi and associated root structures non-destructively and in three dimensions, for example, X-ray computed tomography (micro-CT), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy. Metabolic processes and nutrient exchange can be tracked through positron emission tomography (PET), fluorescent nanoparticles (FNPs), and the monitoring of electrical signalling. AI-powered image processing software is enabling high-throughput analysis of complex images generated from a range of sources. Mycorrhiza systems are also able to be tracked in-field at multiple scales: hyperspectral imaging can detect mycorrhizal associations at the kilometre scale, while portable MRI imagers can detect changes at the tissue scale. These converging technologies enable the direct, continuous measurement of structural and metabolic root-mycorrhizal fungi interactions, paving the way for a mechanistic understanding of these vital symbiotic partnerships and their impact on plant health and ecosystem functioning.

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