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Societal Impact Statement: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) impact the relationships between plants, aphids (insects that feed on plant phloem), and their natural enemies (insects that prey on or parasitize aphids). The presence of AMF influences the growth and population of different aphid species and affects the development of aphid‐killing wasps and their attraction to plants. This research has been conducted also considering the insects' feeding strategy and their feeding specialization. This study provides novel perspectives on how these fungi shape interactions in the natural world, offering potential insights for the development of sustainable pest management strategies in agriculture. Summary: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are major root symbionts regulating plant physiology. Their presence affects the performance of aboveground insect herbivores in relation to their feeding strategy and their feeding specialization. For example, the effect of the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis on chewing insects, positive for specialists and negative for generalists, has been previously demonstrated. Conversely, the impact of AMF on phloem‐suckers with relatively different levels of specialization remains unexplored.We tested the influence of the AM Funneliformis mosseae on the fitness of the specialist aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum and the generalist aphid Myzus persicae on Vicia faba plants. Further, we investigated the effects of AMF on the higher trophic level, the aphid parasitoids Aphidius ervi (specialist) and Aphidius colemani (generalist), by evaluating plant attractiveness and parasitoid fitness. To support the results of behavioral and biological bioassays we characterized the photosynthetic parameters, the volatilome and the transcriptome of tested plants.Mycorrhizal plants proved unsuitable for the generalist M. persicae but enhanced the fitness of the specialist A. pisum. The AM symbiosis had no effects on the behavioral response of A. colemani and enhanced the attraction and fitness of A. ervi.Volatilome and transcriptome profiling corroborated the results of bioassay highlighting a bottom‐up effect of the AMF across a plant–aphid–parasitoid system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arsenic (As) contamination poses significant environmental and health concerns globally, particularly in regions with high exposure levels due to anthropogenic activities. As phytoremediation, particularly through the hyperaccumulator fern Pteris vittata, offers a promising approach to mitigate arsenic pollution. Bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi colonizing P. vittata roots are involved in As metabolism and resistance and plant growth promotion under stressful conditions. A total of 45 bacterial strains were isolated from bulk soil and the rhizosphere of mycorrhizal P. vittata growing in an industrial As-polluted site. Bacteria were characterized by their plant-beneficial traits, tolerance to sodium arsenate and arsenite, and the occurrence of As-resistant genes. This study highlights differences between the culturable fraction of the microbiota associated with the rhizosphere of mycorrhizal P. vittata plants and the bulk soil. Moreover, several strains showing arsenate tolerance up to 600 mM were isolated. All the bacterial strains possessed arsC genes, and about 70% of them showed arrA genes involved in the anaerobic arsenate respiration pathway. The possible exploitation of such bacterial strains in strategies devoted to the assisted phytoremediation of arsenic highlights the importance of such a study in order to develop effective in situ phytoremediation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous works have suggested that arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi can enhance the quality of plant products and fruits. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of AM fungi on Cucumis melo plant growth, yield, fitness and fruit quality. Inoculated and uninoculated plants of two melon cultivars (Baggio and Expò) were grown in field under common agronomic practices. In addition, a greenhouse test was run on cv. Expò in order to assess the effects of AM inoculation on shoot, leaf and flower development in semi-controlled conditions. In comparison to controls, AM plants flowered earlier, produced more flowers and their pulp contained more sugars and carotenoids. The symbiosis also improved seed size and weight, as well as their germination and root elongation in the first stages of growth in field. Concluding, AM inoculation significantly improved fruit quality in field, under commercial production conditions, also leading to the development of seeds with higher germination rate and increasing plant fitness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal communities of Solanum tuberosum L. (potato) roots and of the bulk soil from northern Italy are characterized in order to verify if land use practices has selected any particular AM fungus with specificity to potato plants. The results concerning the biodiversity of AM fungal communities in roots and in bulk soils have shown that potato roots are preferentially colonized by on FM fungus species, Glomus intraradices.

Traditional methods for the enumeration of airborne fungi are slow, tedious, and rather imprecise. The possibility of using flow cytometry (FCM) for the assessment of exposure to the fungus aerosol is evaluated.