The role of carbon in fungal nutrient uptake and transport

The arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis, which forms between plant hosts and ubiquitous soil fungi of the phylum Glomeromycota, plays a key role for the nutrient uptake of the majority of land plants, including many economically important crop species. AM fungi take up nutrients from the soil and exchange them for photosynthetically fixed carbon from the host. While our understanding of the exact mechanisms controlling carbon and nutrient exchange is still limited, we recently demonstrated that (i) carbon acts as an important trigger for fungal N uptake and transport, (ii) the fungus changes its strategy in response to an exogenous supply of carbon, and that (iii) both plants and fungi reciprocally reward resources to those partners providing more benefit. Here, we summarize recent research findings and discuss the implications of these results for fungal and plant control of resource exchange in the AM symbiosis.