MYCOLab Ai Logo - gold and army green

Multi-meta-omics reveal unique symbiotic synchronization between ectomycorrhizal fungus and soil microbiome in Tricholoma matsutake habitat

Summary

Researchers studied the complex relationship between matsutake mushrooms and the microorganisms in the soil where they grow. They discovered that matsutake fungi create special partnerships with specific bacteria that help them thrive, and that all these organisms work together in coordinated metabolic ways. The study reveals that understanding these underground partnerships is crucial for potentially cultivating matsutake mushrooms commercially in the future.

Background

Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi establish symbiotic relationships with plant roots to enhance nutrient uptake and ecosystem resilience. Tricholoma matsutake is a culturally and economically important ECM species in East Asia that remains entirely dependent on wild harvests. Although previous studies reported molecular interactions among plant-ECM fungi-surrounding microbes, microbiome-wide metabolic shifts and associations remain unclear.

Objective

This study aimed to understand the abiotic factors changed by T. matsutake dominance, the microbial community compositional turnover, community-wide microbial functions altered with fungal colonization, and the metabolically associated microbes. The research used multi-omic analyses to capture both taxonomic composition and gene expression profiles of microbial communities in the T. matsutake habitat.

Results

T. matsutake induced remarkable microbial community turnover linked to altered soil moisture, nitrogen, and phosphorus levels. The fungus and soil microbiome showed metabolic synchronization with upregulation of nitrate reduction, glutamate biosynthesis, tryptophan biosynthesis, and indole-3-acetic acid biosynthesis. Helper bacteria Conexibacter and Paraburkholderia were identified, and phage analysis revealed temperate phage population increases with fungal colonization.

Conclusion

Multi-meta-omics approaches revealed unique environmental changes and metabolic synchronization between T. matsutake and surrounding microbiomes. These findings expand understanding of ECM symbiotic frameworks by highlighting integrated microbial and viral metabolic dynamics, with implications for artificial cultivation and ecosystem management.
  • Published in:Microbiome,
  • Study Type:Observational Study,
  • Source: PMID: 41382244, DOI: 10.1186/s40168-025-02292-7
Scroll to Top