No clear data are available on how flavonoids from different chemical groups affect root colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and whether flavonoids affecting the presymbiotic growth of AMF also affect root colonization by AMF. In the present work, we compared the effect of flavones (chrysin and luteolin) and flavonols (kaempferol, morin, isorhamnetin, and rutin) on root colonizat...

BACKGROUND Gloriosa superba produces an array of alkaloids including colchicine, a compound of interest in the treatment of various diseases. The tuber of Gloriosa superba is a rich source of colchicine which has shown anti-gout, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumor activity. However, this promising compound remains expensive and Gloriosa superba is such a good source in global scale. Increase in ...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are a diverse group of soil fungi (Glomeromycota) that form the most ancient mutualistic association termed AM symbiosis with a majority of land plants, improving their nutrition uptake and resistance to stresses. In contrast to their great ecological implications, the knowledge of the molecular biological mechanisms involved is still scant, partly due to the l...

Forty-one soil and root samples from the rhizosphere of some dominant plants of deserts of Semnan province (NE Iran) were collected and examined in this survey. No mycorrhizal symbiosis was found in 24% of the collected plants, while in 76% of them mycorrhizal symbiosis was detected as fungal structures in roots or AMF spores in soils. The highest degree of colonization (76%) was found near the...

Spores of Gigaspora margarita Becker & Hall, an arbuscular mycorrbizal fungus, were cryofixed using bigbprcssure freezing and prepared for transmission electron microscopy by freeze substitution. I'hc cryotechniques improved tbe ultrastructural preservation of tbe spore cytoplasm and revealed storage and secretion processes in tbe germinating spores of G. margarita. The storage structures m the...