TraitAM, a global spore trait database for arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

Knowledge regarding organismal traits supports a better understanding of the relationship between form and function and can be used to predict the consequences of environmental stressors on ecological and evolutionary processes. Most plants on Earth form symbioses with mycorrhizal fungi, but our ability to make trait-based inferences for these fungi is limited due to a lack of publicly available trait data. Here, we present TraitAM, a comprehensive database of multiple spore traits for all described species of the most common group of mycorrhizal fungi, the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi (subphylum Glomeromycotina). Trait data for 344 species were mined from original species descriptions and used to calculate newly developed fungal trait metrics that can be employed to explore both intra- and inter-specific variation in traits. TraitAM also includes an updated phylogenetic tree that can be used to conduct phylogenetically-informed multivariate analyses of AM fungal traits. TraitAM will aid our further understanding of the biology, ecology, and evolution of these globally widespread, symbiotic fungi.

生物性状相关知识有助于更深入地解析形态与功能之间的内在关联，还可用于预测环境胁迫对生态与进化过程的影响。地球上绝大多数植物均与菌根真菌形成共生关系，但由于缺乏公开可获取的性状数据，我们针对这类真菌开展基于性状的推断的能力仍受到极大限制。在此，我们推出TraitAM数据库：这是一套涵盖最常见菌根真菌类群——丛枝菌根（arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi，AM）真菌（球囊霉亚门Glomeromycotina）所有已描述物种的多重孢子性状综合数据库。本数据库从344个物种的原始物种描述文献中挖掘性状数据，并用于计算全新开发的真菌性状指标，可用于探究性状的种内与种间变异。TraitAM数据库还包含一套更新后的系统发育树，可用于开展基于系统发育信息的AM真菌性状多变量分析。TraitAM数据库将助力我们进一步理解这类全球广泛分布的共生真菌的生物学、生态学与进化特性。