pH measurement of tubular vacuoles of an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus, Gigaspora margarita.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi play an important role in phosphate supply to the host plants. The fungal hyphae contain tubular vacuoles where phosphate compounds such as polyphosphate are accumulated. Despite their importance for the phosphate storage, little is known about the physiological properties of the tubular vacuoles in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. As an indicator of the physiological state in vacuoles, we measured pH of tubular vacuoles in living hyphae of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Gigaspora margarita using ratio image analysis with pH-dependent fluorescent probe, 6-carboxyfluorescein. Fluorescent images of the fine tubular vacuoles were obtained using a laser scanning confocal microscope, which enabled calculation of vacuolar pH with high spatial resolution. The tubular vacuoles showed mean pH of 5.6 and a pH range of 5.1-6.3. These results suggest that the tubular vacuoles of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi have a mildly acidic pH just like vacuoles of other fungal species including yeast and ectomycorrhizal fungi.

Simultaneous in situ detection of alkaline phosphatase activity and polyphosphate in arbuscules within arbuscular mycorrhizal roots.

Inorganic phosphate (Pi) metabolism in arbuscules of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi is not well understood, although recent research has revealed that host plants absorb Pi around arbuscules with mycorrhiza-specific transporters. Therefore, we analysed the localisation of polyphosphate (polyP) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity in arbuscules, which could be indicators of Pi metabolism. We developed a dual-labelling method for polyP and ALP activity, i.e. first labelling with fluorescent probes 4',6-diamidino-2-phenyl-indole dihydrochloride (DAPI) and then labelling with enzyme-labelled fluorescence (ELF97). The dual-labelling method made it possible to observe polyP and ALP activity signals simultaneously in mycorrhizal roots. The dual-labelling method revealed that ALP activity was mainly observed in mature arbuscules where polyP was rarely observed. The expression of the AM fungal ALP gene was suppressed in the knockdown plants of an AM-inducible Pi-transporter, and there was much polyP in arbuscules that showed low ALP activity. These topological observations suggest that there may be some relationships between polyP metabolism and ALP activity in arbuscules, and that these are, in part, controlled by Pi uptake by plants via the AM-inducible Pi-transporter.