Beneficial Plant-Microbe Interactions

Description

Our research is focused on the study of the Rhizobium-legume and the ectomycorrhizal symbioses and their tolerance to environmental stresses, with the aim of optimizing their application in agriculture and in the restoration of degraded soils and ecosystems.

Research lines

Study of the legume-rhizobium and ectomycorrhizal symbioses.
Microbial diversity in agricultural and forest systems
Response of plants and microorganisms to abiotic stress and global change
Phytoremediation and soil restoration through the use of symbiotic associations.

Recent Highlights

Beneficial Plant-Microorganism Interactions. Editorials and Reviews

Fedorova, E.E.; Pueyo, J.J. 2024. Microbial Colonization of the Host Plant: Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Symbiosis. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25, 639.

Msaddak A, Mars M, Quiñones MA, Lucas MM, Pueyo JJ. 2023. Lupin, a unique legume that is nodulated by multiple microsymbionts: the role of horizontal gene transfer. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 24, 6496. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24076496

Quiñones MA, Lucas MM, Pueyo JJ. 2022. Adaptive mechanisms make lupin a choice crop for acidic soils affected by aluminum toxicity. Frontiers in Plant Science 12: 810692. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.810692

Pueyo JJ, Quiñones MA, Coba de La Peña T, Fedorova EE, Lucas MM. 2021. Nitrogen and phosphorus interplay in lupin root nodules and cluster roots. Front Plant Sci 12: 644218. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.644218

Identification and selection of plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPR) for the improvement of the physiological quality of plants of agronomic and forestry interest and their potential use in revegetation

Cordero I, Pueyo JJ, Rincón A. 2024. Bio-fertilisation with native plant growth promoting rhizobacteria increases the tolerance of the neotropical legume tree Caesalpinia spinosa to water deficit. Forest Ecol Man 558:121786. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2024.121786

Msaddak A, Quiñones MA, Mars M, Pueyo JJ. 2023. The beneficial effects of inoculation with selected nodule-associated PGPR on white lupin are comparable to those of inoculation with symbiotic rhizobia. Plants 12, 4109. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12244109

Identification and selection of legume cultivars, and rhizobial, endophytes and PGPR strains, with high tolerance to heavy metals and salt stress, for their potential use in phytoremediation and saline soils

Bahena-Osorio Y, Franco-Hernández MO, Pueyo JJ, Vásquez-Murrieta MS. 2023. Development of a quality index to evaluate the impact of abiotic stress in saline soils in the geothermal zone of Los Negritos, Michoacán, Mexico. Agronomy 13, 1650. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13061650

Pacheco-Insausti MC, Ponce IT, Quiñones MA, Pedranzani HE, Pueyo JJ. 2023. Effects of inoculation with stress-tolerant rhizobia on the response of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) to combined salinity and cadmium stress. Plants 12, 3972. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12233972

Trifonova N.A., Kamyshinsky R., Coba de la Peña T.; Koroleva M.I., Kulikova O., Lara-Dampier V., Pashkovskiy P., Presniakov M., Pueyo J.J.; Lucas M.M., E.E. Fedorova. 2022. Sodium accumulation in infected cells and ion transporters mistargeting in nodules of Medicago truncatula: Two ugly items that hinder coping with salt stress effects. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 23: 10618 https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms231810618

Quiñones, M.A.; Fajardo, S.; Fernández-Pascual, M.; Lucas, M.M.; Pueyo, J.J. 2021. Nodulated white lupin plants growing in contaminated soils accumulate unusually high mercury concentrations in their nodules, roots and especially cluster roots. Horticulturae 7: 302 https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae7090302

García de la Torre VS, Coba de la Peña T, Pueyo JJ, Lucas MM. 2021. Cadmium-tolerant and -sensitive cultivars identified by screening of Medicago truncatula germplasm display contrasting responses to cadmium stress. Front Plant Sci 12: 595001. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.595001

Hidri R, Mahmoud OM-B, Farhat N, Pueyo JJ, Abdelly C, Azcon R. 2019. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus and rhizobacteria affect the physiology and performance of Sulla coronaria plants subjected to salt stress by mitigation of ionic imbalance. J Plant Nut and Soil Sci182: 451-462.

Hmaeid N, Wali M, Metoui-Bem Mahmoud O, Pueyo JJ, Ghanaya T, Abdelly C. 2019. Efficient rhizobacteria promote growth and alleviate NaCl-induced stress in the plant species Sulla carnosa. Appl Soil Ecol 133:104-113.

Yahaghi Z, Shirvani M, Nourbakhsh F, Pueyo JJ. 2019. Uptak,e and effects of lead and zinc on alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) seed germination and seedling growth: Role of plant growth promoting bacteria. South African J Bot 124: 573-582.

Characterization of the response mechanisms to heavy metals in legumes and rhizobia: the expression of genes encoding NADPH-recycling enzymes in Medicago truncatula, and of mer genes in Ensifer medicae are related to greater tolerance to Cd and Hg, respec

Garcia de la Torre VS, Coba de la Peña T, Lucas MM and Pueyo JJ. 2022. Transgenic Medicago truncatula plants that accumulate proline display enhanced tolerance to cadmium stress. Frontiers in Plant Science 13: 829069. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.829069

Paape T, Heiniger B, Santo Domingo M, Clear M, Lucas MM, Pueyo JJ. 2022. Genome-wide association study reveals complex genetic architecture of cadmium and mercury accumulation and tolerance traits in Medicago truncatula. Frontiers in Plant Science 12: 806949. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.806949

Álvarez-Rivera G., A. Sanz., A. Cifuentes, E. Ibáñez, T. Paape, M.M. Lucas and J.J. Pueyo. 2022. Flavonoid accumulation varies in Medicago truncatula in response to mercury stress. Frontiers in Plant Science 13: 933209; https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.933209

García de la Torre VS, Coba de la Peña T, Pueyo JJ, Lucas MM. 2021. Cadmium-tolerant and -sensitive cultivars identified by screening of Medicago truncatula germplasm display contrasting responses to cadmium stress. Front Plant Sci 12: 595001. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.595001

Arregui GE, Hipólito P, Pallol B, Lara-Dampier V, García-Rodríguez D, Varela HP, Zanian PT, Balomenos D, Paape T, Coba de La Peña T, Lucas MM, Pueyo JJ. 2021. Mercury-tolerant Ensifer medicae strains display high mercuric reductase activity and a protective effect on nitrogen fixation in Medicago truncatula nodules under mercury stress. Front Plant Sci 11: 560768. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.560768

Analysis of structural and functional aspects of legume nodules in relation to: the legume-rhizobium symbiosis evolution, the plant nutrition, and their tolerance to abiotic stresses (heavy metals, salinity, phosphorus deficiency)

Analyses of the ionome and certain potassium channels, in nodule infected and uninfected cells, reveal differences that might be related to the early senescence of the infected cells and the nodule tolerance to ionic stress.

Fedorova E, Coba de la Peña T, Lara-Dampier V, Kulikova O, Pueyo JJ, Lucas MM. 2021. Potassium content diminishes in infected cells of Medicago truncatula nodules due to the mislocation of channels MtAKT1 and MtSKOR/GORK. J Exp Bot 72: 1336–1348. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/eraa508

The ecological adaptation of plants and microorganisms to local environmental conditions explains functional strategies and structural changes in response to environmental stress

Ecological processes explaining the assembly of mycorrhizal fungal and plant communities and their functionality in Mediterranean forests

Garrido, JL; Azcón, C; López-García, A; Ozuna, C; Perea, A ; Prieto, J; Rincón, A; Alcántara, J. 2023. The structure and ecological function of the interactions between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi through multilayer networks. Functional Ecol. 37: 2217-2230; http://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14378

Prieto-Rubio J, Perea A, Garrido JL, Alcántara JM, Azcón-Aguilar C, López-García A, Rincón A. 2023. Plant traits and phylogeny predict soil carbon and nutrient cycling in Mediterranean mixed forests. Ecosystems 26: 1047-1060; https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-022-00815-z

Prieto-Rubio J, López-García A, Pérez-Izquierdo L, Garrido JL, Alcántara JM, Azcón-Aguilar C, Rincón A. 2022. Scale dependency of ectomycorrhizal fungal community assembly processes in Mediterranean mixed forests. Mycorrhiza 32 (3-4): 315-325.

Water availability in its original environment influences the plant photoprotection strategy in response to drought stress.

Cordero I, Jiménez MD, Delgado JA, Balaguer L, Pueyo JJ, Rincón A. 2021. Costs and benefits of photoprotection strategies under drought stress depend on the seed origin of a Neotropical Caesalpinia clade tree species. Tree Physiol tpab034 https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpab034

Local adaptation of two pine species to high fire recurrence determines the taxonomic and functional diversity of their associated ectomycorrhizal fungal communities.

Pérez-Izquierdo L, Zabal-Aguirre M, Bueé M, Verdú M, Rincón A. 2020. Ectomycorrhizal fungal diversity decreases in Mediterranean pine forests adapted to recurrent fires. Mol Ecol 13: 2463-2476 https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15493

Changes in diversity and specific composition of soil bacterial and fungal communities entail functional consequences in Mediterranean forest ecosystems

Pérez-Izquierdo L, Zabal-Aguirre M, González-Martínez S, Buée M, Verdú M, Rincón A, Goberna M. 2019. Plant genotype modulates nutrient cycling through its belowground microbial cloud. J Ecol 107: 1594-1605 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13202