Maria Harrison

William H. Crocker Professor
Maria Harrison
mjh78@cornell.edu
Office/Lab: 405/406
Phone: 607-254-6472
Office/Lab: 405/ 402, 404, 406, 410
Email: mjh78@cornell.edu
Office Phone: 607-254-6472
Lab Phone: 607-254-6424
Affiliations: Adjunct Professor / Section of Plant Pathology & Plant-Microbe Biology / School of Integrative Plant Science / Cornell University
Graduate Fields: Plant Pathology & Plant-Microbe Biology; Plant Biology
Research Areas:    Biotic Interactions / Stress Responses
Research Overview

Most vascular flowering plants are able to form symbiotic associations with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. These associations, named ‘arbuscular mycorrhizas’, develop in the roots, where the fungus colonizes the cortex to access carbon supplied by the plant. The fungal contribution to the symbiosis includes the transfer of mineral nutrients, particularly phosphorus, from the soil to the plant. In many soils, phosphate exists at levels that are limiting for plant growth. Consequently, additional phosphate supplied via AM fungi can have a significant impact on plant development, and this symbiosis influences the structure of plant communities in ecosystems worldwide.

The long-term goals of our research are to understand the mechanisms underlying development of the AM symbiosis and phosphate transfer between the symbionts. A model legume, Medicago truncatula, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, Glomus versiforme, Glomus intraradices and Gigaspora gigantea are used for these analyses. Currently, a combination of molecular, cell biology, genetic and genomics approaches are being used to obtain insights into development of the symbiosis, communication between the plant and fungal symbionts, and symbiotic phosphate transport.

Current open position:
Postdoctoral Associate: Arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis and hyphae-associated microbial communities

Intern Projects
Molecular analyses of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis

Phosphorus is a critical macronutrient for proper plant growth. While phosphorus deficiencies can be improved by the application of phosphate fertilizers, it is costly, both to the farmer and to the environment. Furthermore, the crops only take up a small percentage of the applied fertilizer; the remainder is either immobilized in the soil, or carried into ground water and rivers, often resulting in pollution.

Interns in the  Harrison lab investigate two aspects of plant phosphorus nutrition. The first aspect seeks to understand the basis for the symbiotic relationships between vascular flowering plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. The fungi colonize root cells, gaining access to carbon supplied by the plant, while at the same time mobilizing mineral nutrients from the soil, including phosphorus, to be used by the plant. For this work, the lab uses the model legume, Medicago truncatula and the fungus Glomus versiforme. The Harrison lab also studies how plants find and take up phosphorus from the soil when they do not have these symbiotic relationships with fungi. This work toward understanding the mechanisms of perception and acquisition of phosphorus by plants may eventually lead to a more effective usage of fertilizers.

Internship Program | Projects & FacultyApply for an Internship
Receptor-associated kinases control the lipid provisioning program in plant–fungal symbiosis
2024.
Ivanov, S., Harrison, Maria J.
Science.
383
:
443–448
Information theory and machine learning illuminate large-scale metabolomic responses of Brachypodium distachyon to environmental change
2023.
Mahood, E.H., Bennett, A.A., Komatsu, K., Kruse, L.H., Lau, V., Rahmati Ishka, M., Jiang, Y., Bravo, A., Louie, K., Bowen, B.P., Harrison, Maria J., Provart, N.J., Vatamaniuk, O.K., Moghe, G.D.
The Plant Journal.
:
A Medicago truncatula Cell Biology Resource: Transgenic Lines Expressing Fluorescent Protein-Based Markers of Membranes, Organelles, and Subcellular Compartments.
2022.
Ivanov, S., Daniels, D.A., Harrison, Maria J.
Mol Plant Microbe Interact..
:
Distinct ankyrin repeat subdomains control VAPYRIN locations and intracellular accommodation functions during arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis.
2022.
Lindsay, P.L., Ivanov, S., Pumplin, N., Zhang, X., Harrison, Maria J.
Nat Commun..
13
:
5228
A genetically encoded biosensor reveals spatiotemporal variation in cellular phosphate content in Brachypodium distachyon mycorrhizal roots
2022.
Zhang, S., Daniels, D.A., Ivanov, S., Jurgensen, L., Müller, L.M., Versaw, W.K., Harrison, Maria J.
New Phytologist.
:
KIN3 impacts arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis and promotes fungal colonisation in Medicago truncatula
2022.
Irving, T.B., Chakraborty, S., Ivanov, S., Schultze, M., Mysore, K.S., Harrison, Maria J., Ané, J.M.
Plant J..
110
:
513–528
Fifteen compelling open questions in plant cell biology.
2021.
Roeder, A.H.K., Otegui, M.S., Dixit, R., Anderson, C.T., Faulkner, C., Zhang, Y., Harrison, Maria J., Kirchhelle, C., Goshima, G., Coate, J.E., Doyle, J.J., Hamant, O., Sugimoto, K., Dolan, L., Meyer, H., Ehrhardt, D.W., Boudaoud, A., Messina, C.
Plant Cell..
34
:
72–102
Vision, challenges and opportunities for a Plant Cell Atlas.
2021.
Ahmed, J., Alaba, O., Ameen, G., Arora, V., Arteaga-Vazquez, M.A., Arun, A., Bailey-Serres, J., Bartley, L.E., Bassel, G.W., Bergmann, D.C., Bertolini, E., Bhati, K.K., Blanco-Touriñán, N., Briggs, S.P., Brumos, J., Buer, B., Burlaocot, A., Cervantes-Pérez, S.A., Chen, S., Contreras-Moreira, B., Corpas, F.J., Cruz-Ramirez, A., Cuevas-Velazquez, C.L., Cuperus, J.T., David, L.I., de Folter, S., Denolf, P.H., Ding, P., Dwyer, W.P., Evans, M.M., George, N., Handakumbura, P.P., Harrison, Maria J., Haswell, E.S., Herath, V., Jiao, Y., Jinkerson, R.E., John, U., Joshi, S., Joshi, A., Joubert, L.-M., Katam, R., Kaur, H., Kazachkova, Y., Kenchanmane Raju, S.K., Khan, M.A., Khangura, R., Kumar, A., Kumar, A., Kumar, P., Kumar, P., Lavania, D., Lew, T.T.S., Lewsey, M.G., Lin, C.Y., Liu, D., Liu, L., Liu, T., Lokdarshi, A., Luong, A.M., Macaulay, I.C., Mahmud, S., Mähönen, A.P., Malukani, K.K., Marand, A.P., Martin, C.A., McWhite, C.D., Mehta, D., Martín, M.M., Mortimer, J.C., Nikolov, L.A., Nobori, T., Nolan, T.M., Ogden, A.J., Otegui, M.S., Ott, M.-C., Palma, J.M., Paul, P., Rehman, A.U., Romera-Branchat, M., Romero, L.C., Roth, R., Sah, S.K., Shahan, R., Solanki, S., Song, B.-H., Sozzani, R., Stacey, G., Stepanova, A.N., Taylor, N.L., Tello-Ruiz, M.K., Tran, T.M., Tripathi, R.K., Vadde, B.V.L.V., Varga, T., Vidovic, M., Walley, J.W., Wang, Z., Weizbauer, R.A., Whelan, J., Wijeratne, A.J., Xiang, T., Xu, S., Yadegari, R., Yu, H., Yuan, H.Y., Zanini, F., Zhao, F., Zhu, J., ZhuangJha, X., Jha, S.G., Borowsky, A.T., Cole ,B.J., Fahlgren, N., Farmer, A., Huang, S.C., Karia, P., Libault, M., Provart, N.J., Rice, S.L., Saura-Sanchez, M., Agarwal, P., Ahkami, A.H., Anderton, C.R., Briggs, S.P., Brophy, J.A., Denolf, P., Di Costanzo, L.F., Exposito-Alonso, M., Giacomello, S., Gomez-Cano, F., Kaufmann, K., Ko, D.K., Kumar, S., Malkovskiy, A.V., Nakayama, N., Obata, T., Otegui, M.S., Palfalvi, G., Quezada-Rodríguez, E.H., Singh, R., Uhrig, R.G., Waese, J., Van Wijk, K., Wright, R.C., Ehrhardt, D.W., Birnbaum, K.D., Rhee, S.Y.
Elife.
7
:
e66877
Conserved and reproducible bacterial communities associate with extraradical hyphae of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.
2021.
Emmett, B.D., Lévesque-Tremblay, V., Harrison, Maria J.
ISME J..
15
:
2276–2288
Constitutive Overexpression of RAM1 Leads to an Increase in Arbuscule Density in Brachypodium distachyon
2020.
Müller, L.M., Mueller, L.M., Campos-Soriano, L., Levesque‐Tremblay, V., Bravo, A., Daniels, D.A., Pathak, S., Park, H., Harrison, Maria J.
Plant Physiology.
184
:
1263–1272
Transcriptomic analysis of field-droughted sorghum from seedling to maturity reveals biotic and metabolic responses
2019.
Varoquaux, N., Cole, B., Gao, C., Pierroz, G., Baker, C.R., Patel, D., Madera, M., Jeffers, T., Hollingsworth, J., Sievert, J., Yoshinaga, Y., Owiti, J.A., Singan, V.R., DeGraaf, S., Xu, L., Blow, M.J., Harrison, Maria J., Visel. A., Jansson, C., Niyogi, K.K., Hutmacher, R., Coleman-Derr, D., O'Malley, R.C., Taylor, J.W., Dahlberg, J., Vogel, J.P., Lemaux, P.G., Purdom, E.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
:
201907500
A CLE–SUNN module regulates strigolactone content and fungal colonization in arbuscular mycorrhiza
2019.
Müller, L.M., Flokova, K., Schnabel, E., Sun, X., Fei, Zhangjun, Frugoli, J., Bouwmeester, H.J., Harrison, Maria J.
Nature Plants.
5
:
933–939
Phytohormones, miRNAs, and peptide signals integrate plant phosphorus status with arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis
2019.
Müller, L.M., Harrison, Maria J.
Current Opinion in Plant Biology.
50
:
132–139
A phosphate-dependent requirement for the transcription factors IPD3 and IPD3L during AM symbiosis in Medicago truncatula
2019.
Lindsay, P., Williams, B., MacLean, A., Harrison, Maria J.
Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions.
32
:
1277–1290
Accumulation of phosphoinositides in distinct regions of the periarbuscular membrane
2019.
Ivanov, S., Harrison, Maria J.
New Phytologist.
221
:
2213–2227
Extensive membrane systems at the host–arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus interface
2019.
Ivanov, S., Austin, J., Berg, R.H., Harrison, Maria J.
Nature Plants.
5
:
194–203
Genome and evolution of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Diversispora epigaea (formerly Glomus versiforme) and its bacterial endosymbionts
2019.
Sun, X., Chen, W., Ivanov, S., MacLean, A.M., Wight, H., Ramaraj, T., Mudge, J., Harrison, Maria J., Fei, Zhangjun
New Phytologist.
221
:
1556–1573
A short LysM protein with high molecular diversity from an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus, Rhizophagus irregularis
2019.
Schmitz, A.M., Pawlowska, T.E., Harrison, Maria J.
Mycoscience.
60
:
63–70
Diverse Sorghum bicolor accessions show marked variation in growth and transcriptional responses to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
2018.
Watts‐Williams, S.J., Emmett, B.D., Levesque‐Tremblay, V., MacLean, A.M., Sun, X, Satterlee, J.W., Fei, Zhangjun, Harrison, Maria J.
Plant, Cell & Environment.
42
:
1758–1774
Cross‐scale integration of mycorrhizal function
2018.
Martin, F., Harrison, Maria J., Lennon, S., Lindahl, B., Öpik, M., Polle, A., Requena, N., Selosse, M.A.
New Phytol..
220
:
941–946
Root-specific phosphate transporter promoters
Maria Harrison
US Patent: 8,115,057
Plant phytase genes and methods of use
Maria Harrison
US Patent: 7,557,265
Plants with increased phosphorous uptake
Maria Harrison
US Patent: 7,417,181
MtHP promoter element
Maria Harrison
US Patent: 7,056,743

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