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Updated: May 9, 2026

Investigation of Plant Interactions Across Common Mycorrhizal Networks Using Rotated Cores
Published on: March 26, 2019
Mycorrhiza-induced resistance: more than the sum of its parts?
Duncan D Cameron1, Andrew L Neal, Saskia C M van Wees
1Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK.
Abstract:
Plants can develop an enhanced defensive capacity in response to infection by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). This 'mycorrhiza-induced resistance' (MIR) provides systemic protection against a wide range of attackers and shares characteristics with systemic acquired resistance (SAR) after pathogen infection and induced systemic resistance (ISR) following root colonisation by non-pathogenic rhizobacteria. It is commonly assumed that fungal stimulation of the plant immune system is solely responsible for MIR. In this opinion article, we present a novel model of MIR that integrates different aspects of the induced resistance phenomenon. We propose that MIR is a cumulative effect of direct plant responses to mycorrhizal infection and indirect immune responses to ISR-eliciting rhizobacteria in the mycorrhizosphere.
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