Emergent benefits of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in multisymbiotic grass-legume mixtures.

ABSTRACT.- The ability of plant microbial symbionts to enhance hosts ' fitness depends on the abiotic and biotic context, including the presence of co-existing symbionts. We studied how the presence of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) affects the performance of a host grass associated or not with fungal asexual endophytes, growing either alone or in interaction with a legume hosting nitrogen-fixing bacteria.