A shoot endosymbiont colonizes pine host by unique and rhizobia-like mechanisms boosted by surface-fixed methanol.

ABSTRACT: Methylorubrum extorquens DSM13060 (Rhizobiales) has a specific capacity to live inside cells of bud meristems in pine trees. The bud niche is almost completely unstudied, although likely widespread in plants. It is unknown how the endosymbiotic methylotroph enters such crucial tissues of the plant. We hypothesized the bud colonization to occur mainly through the shoot epidermis enabled by host-produced methanol. We combined several microscopic methods to illustrate spatio-temporal colonization dynamics and methanol utilization by M. extorquens DSM13060 during the interaction. Our results showed that the endosymbiont mainly enters pine seedlings through cylindrical sheath, which is a layer of living cells surrounding primary root and transition zone. The cylindrical sheath played a central

SUBMITTER: Koskimaki JJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12814881 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature