‘Progress made in the field, presented at ICOM 11, has led to cutting-edge results that challenge current teachings on mycorrhizal fungi.’ Held on 1–5 August 2022, the 11th International Conference on Mycorrhiza (ICOM11) provided participants from 34 countries around the world with an overview of the latest research in the different mycorrhizal fields (Fig. 1). During this fully virtual edition hosted in Beijing, > 700 attendees and speakers of multiple time zones exchanged their thoughts and findings on mycorrhizas allowing a better comprehension of these fungal–plant partnerships and identifying key research perspectives. ICOM 11 facilitated an interesting discussion on how mycorrhizal fungi are affected by and respond to global change. Thanks to recent advances in molecular ecological and computational approaches, the distributions of plants forming arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) and ectomycorrhizal (EM) associations have been investigated comprehensively at a large scale. In his keynote presentation, Kabir Peay (Stanford University, USA) presented the relative abundance of trees forming AM and EM symbioses as a function of latitude on a global scale. Furthermore, he demonstrated via global modeling and glasshouse experiments that climate change has a direct effect on mycorrhizal systems. An exploration of the environmental determinants of AM and EM distribution was also presented by Stephanie Kivlin (University of Tennessee, USA). In these studies, machine learning-based modeling approaches were developed to quantitatively describe the impact of climate transition signals and soil nutrient availability on the abundance of different mycorrhizal types. Peay showed that climate variables, more than soil nutrients, control the abundance of EM trees on a global scale, consistent with the findings of Barceló et al. (2019). Kivlin, however, suggested that while climate variables were the main factor affecting the distribution of mycorrhizal types, soil variables, such as soil organic carbon and sand content, also played an important role in this distribution. In summary, environmental factors stand out in shaping plant mycorrhizal type and the capacity of plants to form mycorrhizal associations. The patterns of mycorrhizal fungal diversity and their drivers are becoming better understood, and regional differences indicate a degree of dispersal limitation, with human impact such as pollution and agricultural management playing an important role. The evolution of mycorrhizal fungi has always been a subject of particular interest for the mycorrhizal research community. Approaching this topic from the plant side, Pierre-Marc Delaux (Université de Toulouse, France) proposed a set of plant genes required to allow AM symbiosis. Interestingly, almost all non-AM forming plants that specifically retain a portion of this gene set have been shown to host other kinds of intracellular symbioses such as intracellular bacteria, orchid mycorrhizae, or ericoid-like mycorrhizae (Radhakrishnan et al., 2020). There, thus, seems to occur a universal signaling pathway for plant intracellular symbiosis initially associated with AM fungi and co-opted in multiple plant lineages to form different symbiotic partnerships. On the fungal side, Annegret Kohler (Université de Lorraine, France) argued that the evolution from saprotrophic to EM fungal lifestyle was also associated with the co-option of genes preceding the appearance of symbiotic lifestyle complemented by lineage-specific innovation (Miyauchi et al., 2020). These co-opted genes appeared to be different among the independent EM fungal lineages but share similar functions. Despite these various advances, mechanisms leading to the mycorrhizal transition, and more generally the evolution of mycorrhizas, are far from understanding. Taking a leap forward with this notion, Leho Tedersoo (Tartu University, Estonia) proposed a focus on the Endogonomycetes lineage, which experienced multiple independent shifts to the EM fungal lifestyle, thus offering a promising playground to investigate mycorrhizal evolution (Chang et al., 2019; Rimington et al., 2019). Noteworthy, Mark Brundrett (University of Western Australia, Australia) raised one of the challenges of in silico analyses that include root and mycorrhizal coevolution studies: database reliability. In his presentation, Brundrett showed that errors in Mycorrhiza database increase over time and that a strong linear relationship exists between the abundance of mycorrhizal records and the frequency of mycorrhizal trait errors. These errors were mostly associated with publications predating current definition of mycorrhizal types, but also to new misdiagnosis especially on tree species with complex root anatomy or contaminations by samples roots of species that commonly grow together (Brundrett, 2021). Fortunately, at present, most of the data (90%) are correct but this will be an increasing concern in the future. Mycorrhizal fungi are not only intimately associated with plants, but are also entangled with diverse microbes that mutualistically, parasitically, or commensally colonize mycorrhizal hyphae. The soil upon, or close to, the mycorrhizal hyphae and beyond the influence of plant roots is called the hyphosphere. Hyphae are difficult to sample in isolation, as they are mixed with heterogeneous soil components and are fragile in nature. Thereby, the diversity of the mycorrhizal hyphosphere microbial community and its properties remain largely unknown. Thanks to the development of sequencing technologies and elaborately designed experiments, evidence presented at ICOM 11 indicates that mycorrhizas impact soil microbial communities and hyphosphere microbes exert important functions in mycorrhizal development. In temperate and boreal ecosystems, Bahram et al. (2018) presented evidence that plants forming EM and AM symbioses harbor distinct bacterial and fungal communities. In agricultural ecosystems, a series of experiments performed under divergent phosphorous conditions, presented by Lin Zhang (China Agricultural University, China), demonstrated that the secretion of fructose by AM fungi increases the phosphatase activity in the soil. It does this by enriching the abundance of phosphorus-solubilizing bacteria colonizing the hyphosphere. In addition to the bacteria and fungi that actively interact with AM fungi, Jan Jansa (Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic) draws attention to AM fungi–protist interactions. The addition of the soil protist Polysphondylium pallidum combined with a Paenibacillus sp. strain to AM fungal hyphae significantly increased the organic nitrogen utilization of the mycorrhizal plants (Rozmoš et al., 2022). In view of the increasing evidence that mycorrhiza-attached microbial communities play critical roles in mycorrhizal ecophysiology, several new research frontiers have been proposed. These new areas include the establishment of a global map of mycorrhiza-helper bacteria and mycorrhiza-associated microbiomes (as proposed by Marcel van der Heijden, Agroscope, Switzerland). This work can lead to a better understanding of the contribution of mycorrhizas to nutrient cycling and ecosystem performance in general. Talks from three keynote speakers at ICOM 11 highlighted anomalies in aspects of mycorrhizal reproduction and taxonomy that challenged traditional views of these symbioses. Furthermore, these exceptions could have significant and widespread ecological impacts. For example, Anne Pringle (University of Wisconsin Madison, USA) explored how invasive fungi could satisfy the characteristics of an ‘ideal weed’ (as described by Baker in 1965), with an important criterion being the ability to be self-compatible. She showed that in rare cases Amanita phalloides individuals possessed only one mating type locus. The ability of these homokaryotic individuals to produce fruiting bodies and reproduce could therefore be an overlooked aspect of the invasive success of Amanita phalloides. By contrast, among AM fungi, Nicolas Corradi (University of Ottawa, Canada) showed that strains of Rhizophagus irregularis are either homokaryotic or dikaryotic, and that the ratio of coexisting parental nuclei in dikaryons is regulated in response to plant host identity, leading to potential advantages in fitness. Dikaryons are thought to be more generalist than homokaryons, as observed by their ability to produce more spores and denser hyphal networks with a wider range of host plants (Serghi et al., 2021). Megan Ryan (University of Western Australia, Australia) reminded us that AM fungi colonizing plants are not mono-phylogenetic but rather divided into Glomeromycotinian-AM fungi (G-AMF) and Mucoromycotinian-AM fungi (M-AMF). M-AMF, previously known as ‘fine root endophytes’, are understudied compared with G-AMF and thus our current understanding of them is limited. Researchers were encouraged to routinely check for both types of AM fungi, and to adopt the G-AMF/M-AMF terminology to increase clarity in research findings. M-AMF and G-AMF occupy distinct but overlapping ecological niches (Albornoz et al., 2022), suggesting differences in function and benefit to plants. All these studies have laid a strong foundation for new research to expand our understanding of mycorrhizal fungi and serve as a reminder to consider anomalies that may otherwise be missed. ICOM 11 successfully consolidated mycorrhizal research from a diverse range of disciplines and spatial scales. Ranging from ecosystem-level impacts of co-invasive EM fungi communities (Sapsford et al., 2022), as presented by Ian Dickie (University of Canterbury, New Zealand), to the flow of nutrients and development of intricate AM fungi hyphal networks, shown by Toby Kiers (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands). Progress made in the field, presented at ICOM 11, has led to cutting-edge results that challenge current teachings on mycorrhizal fungi. These new findings will provide an excellent foundation for stimulating conversations and novel research to be presented at the next ICOM to be held in Manchester (United Kingdom) in 2024. The authors would like to thank all the participants of ICOM 11 and those who contributed with talks, posters, and engaging discussions, especially those whose names are not mentioned here due to constraints on space. They also acknowledge the Chinese Society of Mycology for organizing this event especially in light of the challenges presented by COVID-19. AL was supported by the Laboratory of Excellence ARBRE. YM was supported by European Regional Development Fund (Centre of Excellence EcolChange) and Estonian Research Council (PRG1065). JVR was supported by Bio-Protection Aotearoa – a Center of Research Excellence.