Microbe Profile: , a multifaceted arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus.

is a cosmopolitan arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus, which - as an obligate symbiont- requires being associated to a host plant to accomplish its life cycle. It is characterized by huge white spores, the development of extraradical auxiliary cells, and the lack of intraradical vesicles. Its genome is dominated by transposable elements and is one of the largest fungal genomes so far sequenced. has the peculiar feature to host taxonomically different endobacteria in its cytoplasm. The development of a cured line has allowed us to demonstrate how the endobacteria have a positive impact on the fungal physiology and -with a cascade effect- on the mycorrhizal plant.