Medicago Truncatula - Mutualism

Mutualism

Researcher Toby Kiers of VU University Amsterdam and associates used Medicago truncatula to study mutualisms between plants and fungi - and to see whether the partners in the relationship could distinguish between good and bad traders/suppliers. By using labeled carbon to track the source of nutrient flowing through the arbuscular mycorrhizal system, The researchers have proven that the plants had indeed given more carbon to the more generous fungus species. By restricting the amount of carbon the plants gave to the fungus, the researchers also demonstrated that the fungus did pass along more of their phosphorus to the more generous plants.