Rock eating fungi? The role of Mucoromycotina 'fine root endophytes' in silicate mineral weathering and plant nutrition

This project will investigate this fundamental knowledge gap by a combination of in vitro experiments, elemental, scanning electron microscopy and isotope tracer analyses, together with transcriptomic and bioinformatic analyses to address the following objectives:

Quantify the ability of MFRE to extract mineral nutrients from different silicates.
Characterise MFRE-mineral interactions at the chemical and physical levels.
Determine fungal gene expression patterns and metabolic responses to different minerals.
Establish the bioavailability of the extracted mineral nutrients to host plants.