Argonaute7 (AGO7) optimizes arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal associations and enhances competitive growth in Nicotiana attenuata.

Plants interact with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and in doing so, change transcript levels of many miRNAs and their targets. However, the identity of an Argonaute (AGO) that modulates this interaction remains unknown, including in Nicotiana attenuata. We examined how the silencing of NaAGO1/2/4/7/and 10 by RNAi influenced plant-competitive ability under low-P conditions when they interact with AMF. Furthermore, the roles of seven miRNAs, predicted to regulate signaling and phosphate homeostasis, were evaluated by transient overexpression. Only NaAGO7 silencing by RNAi (irAGO7) significantly reduced the competitive ability under P-limited conditions, without changes in leaf or root development, or juvenile-to-adult phase transitions. In plants growing competitively in the glasshouse, irAGO7 roots were over-colonized with AMF, but they accumulated significantly less phosphate and the expression of their AMF-specific transporters was deregulated. Furthermore, the AMF-induced miRNA levels were inversely regulated with the abundance of their target transcripts. miRNA overexpression consistently decreased plant fitness, with four of seven-tested miRNAs reducing mycorrhization rates, and two increasing mycorrhization rates. Overexpression of Na-miR473 and Na-miRNA-PN59 downregulated targets in GA, ethylene, and fatty acid metabolism pathways. We infer that AGO7 optimizes competitive ability and colonization by regulating miRNA levels and signaling pathways during a plant's interaction with AMF.