The symbiotic association between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi is almost ubiquitous within the plant kingdom, and the early stages of the association are controlled by plant-derived strigolactones acting as a signal to the fungus in the rhizosphere and lipochito-oligosaccharides acting as fungal signals to the plant. Hyphopodia form at the root surface, allowing the initial invasion,...

In recent years, the use of soil microbial potential including arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi is widely considered to enhance the better growth and nutrition of plants. This research was conducted in order to study the impact of mycorrhizal fungi on the increase of yarrow production and the plant establishment affected by the symbiotic ...

BACKGROUND Salt stress has become a major threat to plant growth and productivity. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi colonize plant root systems and modulate plant growth in various ways. SCOPE This review addresses the significance of arbuscular mycorrhiza in alleviation of salt stress and their beneficial effects on plant growth and productivity. It also focuses on recent progress in unravelling...

Functional differences between the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi Glomus intraradices Schenk and Smith and Scutellospora heterogama Nicolson and Gerdemann as they affect Persea americana Mill. growth, glomalin, and fungal sporulation were examined by varying the composition and relative density of the two fungi over a gradient of available phosphorus (P). The plant benefit provided by these mycor...

Soil microorganisms mediate many nutrient transformations that are central in terrestrial cycling of carbon and nitrogen. However, uptake of organic nutrients by microorganisms is difficult to study in natural systems. We assessed quantum dots (fluorescent nanoscale semiconductors) as a new tool to observe uptake and translocation of organic nitrogen by fungi and plants. We conjugated quantum d...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are important symbionts that enhance plant growth. They were thought to have been asexual for hundreds of millions of years. A new study reveals that the fungi actually possess highly conserved genetic machinery for completion of meiosis.

Arbuscular mycorrhizae are important for growth and survival of tropical trees. We studied the community of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in a tropical mountain rain forest and in neighbouring reforestation plots in the area of Reserva Biológica San Francisco (South Ecuador). The arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi were analysed with molecular methods sequencing part of the 18 S rDNA. The sequences wer...

Several studies, performed mainly in pots, have shown that arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis can mitigate the negative effects of water stress on plant growth. No information is available about the effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis on berseem clover growth and nitrogen (N) fixation under conditions of water shortage. A field experiment was conducted in a hilly area of inner Sicily, Ita...

Subterranean clover inoculated or not with the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus Glomus intraradices was grown on soil containing six levels of 238U in the range 0-87 mg kg(-1). Increasing U concentration in soil enhanced the U concentration in roots and shoots of both mycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal plants but had no significant effects on plant dry matter production or root AM colonization. M...

Two important plant species of Hawai‘i, the indigenous Osteomeles anthyllidifolia (Sm.) Lindl., a component of Hawai‘i’s most endangered habitat, and the highly invasive Psidium cattleianum Sabine were grown with or without arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in a soilless mix at different soil-solution phosphorus (P) levels. At P levels similar to those in the field (0.007 mg P/liter), shoot biomass ...