Plant growth depressions in arbuscular mycorrhizal symbioses: not just caused by carbon drain?

* This study investigated effects of plant density and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) colonization on growth and phosphorus (P) nutrition of a cultivar of wheat (Triticum aestivum) that often shows early AM-induced growth depressions. * Two experiments were conducted. Expt 1 had three plant densities and one soil P concentration. Expt 2 had two plant densities and two P concentrations. Plants were grown in calcareous P-fixing soil, inoculated with Glomus intraradices or Gigaspora margarita, or noninoculated (nonmycorrhizal (NM)). Glomus intraradices colonized well and caused a growth depression only in Expt 1. Gigaspora margarita caused large growth depressions in both experiments even though it colonized poorly. * The results showed that growth depressions were mitigated by changes in relative competition for soil P by NM and AM plants, and probably by decreasing carbon costs of the fungi. * The different effects of the two fungi appear to be attributable to differences in the balance between P uptake by the fungal pathway and direct uptake via the roots. These differences may be important in other AM symbioses that result in growth depressions. The results show that mycorrhizal growth responses of plants grown singly may not apply at the population or community level.

Quantification of the ultrasound induced sedimentation of Microcystis aeruginosa.

It has been known for more than 40 years that vacuolate organisms can be induced to sediment with ultrasound. However, robust indicators are still needed to compare the efficacy of different treatments. A repeatable index is proposed that makes it possible to quantify the ultrasonic induced sedimentation. The procedure is used to monitor the long term sedimentation of Microcystis aeruginosa after sonication. Results reveal that the sedimentation process continues after gas vesicles have fully recovered, although at a slower rate.

Different arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi induce differences in cellular responses and fungal activity in a mycorrhiza-defective mutant of tomato (rmc).

The reduced mycorrhizal colonisation (rmc) mutant of tomato forms different phenotypes with different arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. Our aim was to characterise microscopically the cellular responses in plant and fungus in order to reveal how these varied when colonisation was blocked at different stages. Synchronised colonisation coupled with vital staining, autofluorescence and laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) were used to determine how long the AM fungi stay alive during the interactions with rmc, whether nuclear repositioning occurred in the same way as in wild-type interactions and whether there was evidence for deployment of defence responses. The results showed that (1) all the AM fungi tested were attracted to roots of rmc, on which they developed active external mycelium and appressoria, the latter sometimes in higher numbers than on the wild type; (2) plant cellular responses, such as nuclear movement, occurred only when the AM fungus was able to penetrate the epidermal cells of rmc; and (3) plant defence responses such as autofluorescence were observed only transiently and callose deposition was not involved in blocking AM fungi in rmc. The results demonstrate that multi-step AM colonisation is not only an outcome of cellular processes influenced by both plant and fungus, but is also modified by the capacity of different AM fungi to respond to the plant phenotype induced by the rmc mutation.

Interactions between the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus Glomus intraradices and nontransformed tomato roots of either wild-type or AM-defective phenotypes in monoxenic cultures.

Monoxenic symbioses between the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus Glomus intraradices and two nontransformed tomato root organ cultures (ROCs) were established. Wild-type tomato ROC from cultivar "RioGrande 76R" was employed as a control for mycorrhizal colonization and compared with its mutant line (rmc), which exhibits a highly reduced mycorrhizal colonization (rmc) phenotype. Structural features of the two root lines were similar when grown either in soil or under in vitro conditions, indicating that neither monoxenic culturing nor the rmc mutation affected root development or behavior. Colonization by G. intraradices in monoxenic culture of the wild-type line was low (<10%) but supported extensive development of extraradical mycelium, branched absorbing structures, and spores. The reduced colonization of rmc under monoxenic conditions (0.6%) was similar to that observed previously in soil. Extraradical development of runner hyphae was low and proportional to internal colonization. Few spores were produced. These results might suggest that carbon transfer may be modified in the rmc mutant. Our results support the usefulness of monoxenically obtained mycorrhizas for investigation of AM colonization and intraradical symbiotic functioning.

Metabolic activity of Glomus intraradices in Arum- and Paris-type arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization.

Colonization of two plant species by Glomus intraradices was studied to investigate the two morphological types (Arum and Paris), their symbiotic interfaces and metabolic activities. Root pieces and sections were stained to observe the colonization and metabolic activity of all mycorrhizal structures. There were no growth responses observed in the plants caused by mycorrhizal symbiosis. The two morphological types had a similar percentage of root colonized, but the Arum-type had higher metabolic activity. Most of the mycorrhizal structures (88%) showed succinate dehydrogenase activity; about half showed acid phosphatase activity; and a small percentage showed alkaline phosphatase activity. Phosphatase activity was highest in arbuscules and low in intercellular hyphae in the Arum-type colonization. In the Paris-type, hyphal coils and arbusculate coils showed a similar intermediate percentage of phosphatase activity. We conclude that acid phosphatase is more important than alkaline phosphatase in both colonization types. We discuss the possibility that, whereas arbuscules in Arum-type are the main site for phosphorus release to the host plant, both the hyphal and arbusculate coils may be involved in the Paris-type.