First High-Resolution Cell-by-Cell Map Tracks Tomato Root and Fungal Partnership

First high-resolution cell-by-cell map tracks tomato root and fungal partnership

Scientists at VIB and Ghent University have produced the first high-resolution, cell-by-cell map of how tomato roots respond to colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

Scientists map plant-fungus symbiosis at single-cell resolution

Ghent, 18 August 2026 — Beneath the soil, tomato roots are not passive anchors but dynamic biological interfaces where plants and fungi negotiate an exchange of resources. Now, scientists at the VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology and Ghent University have produced the most detailed molecular map yet of that partnership, tracing how individual root cells change as they are colonized by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. The study, published in…