BACKGROUND Within the root endosphere, fungi are known to be important for plant nutrition and resistance to stresses. However, description and understanding of the rules governing community assembly in the fungal fraction of the plant microbiome remains scarce. METHODS We used an innovative DNA- and RNA-based analysis of co-extracted nucleic acids to reveal the complexity of the fungal commu...

Among the oldest symbiotic associations of plants are arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) with fungi of the phylum Glomeromycota. Although many of the symbiotic signaling components have been identified on the side of the plant, AM fungi have long evaded genetic analysis owing to their strict biotrophy and their exceptional genetics. Recently, the identification of the fungal symbiosis signal (Myc facto...

Windipila spinifera from the Rhynie cherts is a spheroidal microfossil enveloped in hyphal mantle which extend prominent spines and otherwise shaped projections. It believed to be reproductive unit of fungus Glomeromycota or zygomycetes, but features determine systematic affinities have not hitherto been documented. This study describes new specimen W. that contains single spherical structure h...

The biodiversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) communities present in five Sardinian soils (Italy) subjected to different land-use (tilled vineyard, covered vineyard, pasture, managed meadow and cork-oak formation) was analysed using a pyrosequencing-based approach for the first time. Two regions of the 18S ribosomal RNA gene were considered as molecular target. The pyrosequencing produ...

The Zygomycota is an ecologically heterogenous assemblage of nonzoosporic fungi comprising two classes, Zygomycetes and Trichomycetes. Phylogenetic analyses have suggested that the phylum is polyphyletic; two of four orders of Trichomycetes are related to the Mesomycetozoa (protists) that diverged near the fungal/animal split. Current circumscription of the Zygomycota includes only orders with ...

Obligate symbiotic fungi that form arbuscular mycorrhizae (AMF; belonging to the Glomeromycota phylum) are some of the most important soil microorganisms. AMFs facilitate mineral nutrient uptake from the soil, in exchange for plant-assimilated carbon, and promote water-stress tolerance and resistance to certain diseases. AMFs colonize the root by producing inter- and intra-cellular hyphae. When...

The communities of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) colonizing the roots of three mangrove species were characterized along a tidal gradient in a mangrove swamp. A fragment, designated SSU-ITS-LSU, including part of the small subunit (SSU), the entire internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and part of the large subunit (LSU) of rDNA from samples of AMF-colonized roots was amplified, cloned and seq...