Fungal volatiles affect lateral root formation and increase plant tolerance to osmotic stress

Fungal VOCs from Laccaria bicolor, Hebeloma cylindrosporum, and Serendipita indica trigger a rapid auxin-transport gene response within 3 days and promote lateral root proliferation by day 10 under osmotic stress.

• Why it matters: Abiotic-stress effects of fungal volatile signaling are unclear, despite known developmental benefits under non-stress conditions.
• What they did: Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings were exposed to fungal VOCs under osmotic stress, followed by time-course transcriptional analysis and mutant testing using auxin- and cytokinin-resistant lines.
• The result: VOC exposure modulates glucosinolate and leucine metabolism and regulates HAK5 and IRT1; hak5-2 and akt1-2 genetics plus nitric oxide signaling show potassium transport and nitric-oxide-dependent IRT1 regulation are essential for developmental and stress-tolerance outcomes.

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