and phylogenetics, has not been achieved previously in microbial ecology. This method can also be used independently of classical culture methods in microbial ecology, allowing for in situ analysis of functional microbes. Application of sequencing of single nucleus from spores of AM fungi has also been developed recently and also circumvents the need of culture methods. Stable Isotope Probing (SIP) SIP, more explicitly DNA/RNA-based SIP, uses stable-isotope enriched substrates, such as 13C, 15N, or H218O, and then analyzes the 'labeled' markers using species specific DNA or RNA markers. The analysis of labeled DNA is performed by separating unlabeled and labeled DNA on a cesium chloride gradient formed in an ultra centrifuge. Because all microbial organisms are capable of importing water into their cells, the use of H218O stable isotope probing is a very exciting new method that can shed light on questions microbial ecologists and biologists have struggled with answering for years, in particular, what are the active microbial organisms in my system? The H218O, or heavy water method will target all organisms that are actively growing, and induce little influence on growth itself. This would be especially true with most greenhouse experiments with arbuscular mycorrhizas because plants must be watered anyway, and water does not directly select for organisms with specific metabolic pathways, as would happen when using 13C and15N. Little has been done with this method in arbuscular mycorrhizal experiments, but if proven to work in a controlled experiment, and with further refinement of DNA/RNA fungal community analyses techniques, this may be a viable option to very specifically determine the actively growing portion of AM fungal species across growing seasons, with different plant hosts or treatments, and in the face of climate change. sRNA and sRNA processing mechanism to understand AM symbiosis sRNAs have been reported to take crucial role in the crosstalk between host and symbiont. sRNAs processing mechanism is thus, important for understanding AM symbiosis. It seems that AM fungi have their unique features to have bacterial type core enzyme as well as the large number of Argonaute proteins in their sRNA processing system (or RNAi system). sRNA and sRNA processing mechanism research is also exciting topic to understand AM fungi symbiosis. Phytoremediation Disturbance of native plant communities in desertification-threatened areas is often followed by degradation of physical and biological soil properties, soil structure, nutrient availability, and organic matter. When restoring disturbed land, it is essential