The mycorrhizal root-shoot axis elicits Coffea arabica growth under low phosphate conditions

Coffee is one of the world's most traded products employing millions of people through its growing, processing and trading. Coffee accounts for nearly half of the total net exports from tropical countries and is representative of the economic and agricultural issues that countries face today. Coffee demand is in fact expected to grow in the next years, but its yield is expected to decrease due to environmental fluctuations. As most cultivated crops, coffee plants depend on arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi with which they associate under natural conditions. As biofertilisers and bioprotective agents, AM fungi may represent crucial tools to develop more sustainable growing conditions for coffee plantations. Here by using an integrated approach, we present novel information on the molecular mechanisms which allow an AM fungus to elicit local and systemic responses in young coffee plants.