(by Yan Zhongyuan) At  3 pm on November 9th, the researcher Wang Ertao from the Institute of  Plant Physiology and Ecology in Shanghai, the Chinese Academy of  Science, attended the BBS of frontiers in Microbiology, bringing the  academic report on the theme of "the molecular mechanism of  plant-microbial symbiosis".

Wang Ertao firstly gave us an introduction that the current  research direction of his lab was mainly focused on the signal  transduction of plant-microbial symbiosis, then a brief introduction to  the academic definition of mycorrhizal fungi symbiosis and its  biological significance in the phosphorus acquisition to the host plant.  Then he used three stages of phenotypic characteristic including  symbiotic signal establishment, symbiotic signal identification and  mycorrhizal formation as the entry point, illustrating a series of key  cellular signal components involved in mycorrhizal symbiosis  specifically and their molecular mechanism. Finally, Wang Ertao  emphatically introduced the latest research published in the top level  of international journal "Science". Taking measures of isotope tracing  metabolic flux technique, the research skillfully disclosed that the  main form of carbon source obtained by mycorrhizal fungi is not "sugar"  as traditional theory considered, but "fatty acid", a more efficient  form of carbon source.

After the academic discussion, Wang Ertao made a brief  communication between teachers and students. Wang Ertao declared that  only in the way that students strengthen their efforts on research  training in the early stage, can the assistance from the tutor in the  late stage get twice the result with half the effort.