Cooperation through Competition-Dynamics and Microeconomics of a Minimal Nutrient Trade System in Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Symbiosis.

ABSTRACT: In arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis, fungi and plants exchange nutrients (sugars and phosphate, for instance) for reciprocal benefit. Until now it is not clear how this nutrient exchange system works. Here, we used computational cell biology to simulate the dynamics of a network of proton pumps and proton-coupled transporters that are upregulated during AM formation. We show that this minimal network is sufficient to describe accurately and realistically the nutrient trade system. By applying basic principles of microeconomics, we link the biophysics of transmembrane nutrient transport with the ecology of organismic interactions and straightforwardly explain macroscopic scenarios of the relations between plant and AM fungus. This computational cell biology study allows drawing far rea

SUBMITTER: Schott S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4921476 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature