TY - JOUR TI - Lipid transfer from plants to arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi AU - Keymer, Andreas AU - Pimprikar, Priya AU - Wewer, Vera AU - Huber, Claudia AU - Brands, Mathias AU - Bucerius, Simone L AU - Delaux, Pierre-Marc AU - Klingl, Verena AU - Röpenack-Lahaye, Edda von AU - Wang, Trevor L AU - Eisenreich, Wolfgang AU - Dörmann, Peter AU - Parniske, Martin AU - Gutjahr, Caroline A2 - Stacey, Gary VL - 6 PY - 2017 DA - 2017/07/20 SP - e29107 C1 - eLife 2017;6:e29107 DO - 10.7554/eLife.29107 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.29107 AB - Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) symbioses contribute to global carbon cycles as plant hosts divert up to 20% of photosynthate to the obligate biotrophic fungi. Previous studies suggested carbohydrates as the only form of carbon transferred to the fungi. However, de novo fatty acid (FA) synthesis has not been observed in AM fungi in absence of the plant. In a forward genetic approach, we identified two Lotus japonicus mutants defective in AM-specific paralogs of lipid biosynthesis genes (KASI and GPAT6). These mutants perturb fungal development and accumulation of emblematic fungal 16:1ω5 FAs. Using isotopolog profiling we demonstrate that 13C patterns of fungal FAs recapitulate those of wild-type hosts, indicating cross-kingdom lipid transfer from plants to fungi. This transfer of labelled FAs was not observed for the AM-specific lipid biosynthesis mutants. Thus, growth and development of beneficial AM fungi is not only fueled by sugars but depends on lipid transfer from plant hosts. KW - Lotus japonicus KW - Rhizophagus irregularis KW - arbuscular mycorrhiza KW - root symbiosis KW - lipids JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -