Strigolactones (SLs) or SL-derived metabolite(s) have recently been shown to act as endogenous inhibitors of axillary bud outgrowth. SLs released from roots induce hyphal branching of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi that facilitate the uptake of inorganic nutrients, such as phosphate (Pi) and nitrate, by the host plants. Previous studies have shown that SL levels in root exudates are highly e...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are important below-ground carbon (C) sinks that can be sensitive to increased nitrogen (N) availability. The abundance of AM fungi (AMF) was estimated in maple (Acer spp.) fine roots following more than a decade of experimental additions of N designed to simulate chronic atmospheric N deposition. Abundance of AMF was measured by staining and ocular estimation,...

The roots of the majority of tree species are associated with either arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) or ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi. The absorptive roots of tree species also vary widely in their diameter. The linkages between root thickness, mycorrhiza type and nutrient foraging are poorly understood. We conducted a large root ingrowth experiment in the field to investigate how absorptive roots of ...

We monitored the development of intraradical and extraradical mycelia of the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi Scutellospora calospora and Glomus intraradices when colonizing Plantago lanceolata. The occurrence of arbuscules (branched hyphal structures) and vesicles (lipid storage organs) was compared with the amounts of signature fatty acids. The fatty acid 16:1omega5 was used as a signature f...

To better understand the molecular responses of plants to arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, we analyzed the differential gene expression patterns of Lotus japonicus, a model legume, with the aid of a large-scale cDNA macroarray. Experiments were carried out considering the effects of contaminating microorganisms in the soil inoculants. When the colonization by AM fungi, i.e. Glomus mosseae and...

? Fine roots and mycorrhizal fungi may either stimulate leaf litter decomposition by providing free-living decomposers with root-derived carbon, or slow through nutrient competition between saprotrophic fungi. We reduced the presence of fine their associated in a northern hardwood forest New Hampshire, USA soil trenching. Plots spanned gradient from 96% arbuscular (AM) associations to 100% ecto...

Large fraction of mineral nutrients in natural soil environments is recycled from complex and heterogeneously distributed organic sources. These sources are explored by both roots and associated mycorrhizal fungi. However, the mechanisms behind the responses of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) hyphal networks to soil organic patches of different qualities remain little understood. Therefore, we cond...

The arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis, formed between the majority of land plants and ubiquitous soil fungi of the phylum Glomeromycota, is responsible for massive nutrient transfer and global carbon sequestration. AM fungi take up nutrients from the soil and exchange them against photosynthetically fixed carbon (C) from the host. Recent studies have demonstrated that reciprocal reward stra...

Here, we used phosphorus-32 (32P) labelling in compartmented pots combined with quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of phosphate(Pi) transporter gene expression to investigate regulation of Pi uptake pathways in barley (Hordeum vulgare), an arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) plant that does not show strong positive growth responses to colonization.Barley was colonized well ...