The regulation of the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis is largely under the control of a genetic programme of the plant host. This programme includes a common symbiosis signalling pathway that is shared with the root nodule symbiosis. Whereas this common pathway has been investigated in detail, little is known about the mycorrhiza-specific regulatory steps upstream and downstream of the common pathway. To get further insight in the regulation of the AM symbiosis, a transposon-mutagenized population of Petunia hybrida was screened for mutants with defects in AM development. Here, we describe a petunia mutant, penetration and arbuscule morphogenesis1 (pam1), which is characterized by a strong decrease in colonization by three different AM fungi. Penetrating hyphae are frequently aborted in epidermal cells. Occasionally the fungus can progress to the cortex, but fails to develop arbuscules. The resulting hyphal colonization of the cortex in mutant plants does not support symbiotic acquisition of phosphate and copper by the plant. Expression analysis of three petunia orthologues of the common SYM genes LjPOLLUX, LjSYMRK and MtDMI3 indicates that pam1 is not mutated in these genes. We conclude that the PAM1 gene may play a specific role in intracellular accommodation and morphogenesis of the fungal endosymbiont.

Most terrestrial plants engage into arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis with fungi of the phylum Glomeromycota. The initial recognition of the fungal symbiont results in the activation of a symbiosis signalling pathway that is shared with the root nodule symbiosis (common SYM pathway). The subsequent intracellular accommodation of the fungus, and the elaboration of its characteristic feeding structures, the arbuscules, depends on a genetic programme in the plant that has recently been shown to involve the VAPYRIN gene in Medicaco truncatula. We have previously identified a mutant in Petunia hybrida, penetration and arbuscule morphogenesis 1 (pam1), that is defective in the intracellular stages of AM development. Here, we report on the cloning of PAM1, which encodes a VAPYRIN homologue. PAM1 protein localizes to the cytosol and the nucleus, with a prominent affinity to mobile spherical structures that are associated with the tonoplast, and are therefore referred to as tonospheres. In mycorrhizal roots, tonospheres were observed in the vicinity of intracellular hyphae, where they may play an essential role in the accommodation and morphogenesis of the fungal endosymbiont.