Disruption of mycorrhizal fungi that form symbioses with local native plants is a strategy used by some invasive exotic plants for competing within their resident communities. Example invasive plants include Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) and Brassica nigra (black mustard), both non-mycorrhizal plants in the Family Brassicaceae. Although there is clear evidence for mycorrhizal degradation,...

Growth responses of Zea mays and Glycine max to colonization by mixture of combination of three species of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, two species of Glomus and a species of Scutellospora were compared. In Zea mays, plants inoculated with single species of AM fungi showed significantly higher in dry weight than non-mycorrhizal plant for all three AM fungal species. Also, growth of plants...

Efforts to maintain and restore whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) forests in western North America have increased dramatically over the last two decades and now include the planting of nursery-grown rust resistant seedlings in openings and burned areas. Over 200,000 nursery seedlings have been planted in the western U.S. but survival rates are low and in many areas approach zero. One possibilit...

Arbuscular mycorrhiza is a mutualistic association between fungi and higher plants, and play a critical role in nutrient cycling and stress tolerance. However, much less is known about the mycorrhiza-mediated enhancement in growth and salinity tolerance of the peanuts (Arachis hypogaea L.) growing in the arid and semi-arid areas. Therefore, mycorrhizal status of Glomus mosseae in diverse salini...

The roots of most terrestrial plants are colonized by mycorrhizal fungi. They play a key role in terrestrial environments influencing soil structure and ecosystem functionality. Around them a peculiar region, the mycorrhizosphere, develops. This is a very dynamic environment where plants, soil and microorganisms interact. Interest in this fascinating environment has increased over the years. Fo...

In mycorrhizal symbiosis, plant roots form close, mutually beneficial interactions with soil fungi. Before this mycorrhizal interaction can be established however, plant roots must be capable of detecting potential beneficial fungal partners and initiating the gene expression patterns necessary to begin symbiosis. To predict a plant root-mycorrhizal fungi sensor systems, we analyzed in vitro ex...

Mycorrhizal association is a common characteristic in a majority of land plants, and the survival and distribution of a species can depend on the distribution of suitable fungi in its habitat. Orchidaceae is one of the most species-rich angiosperm families, and all orchids are fully dependent on fungi for their seed germination and some also for subsequent growth and survival. Given this obliga...

The novel weapons hypothesis posits that biochemical compounds secreted by an invasive species facilitate its success by reducing the performance and survival of other species. This mechanism has been proposed to explain the widespread invasion of the biennial plant, Alliaria petiolata, in North America. Root exudates produced by A. petiolata, a nonmycorrhizal plant, suppress the growth of myco...

Lipids are the major form of carbon storage in arbuscular-mycorrhizal fungi. We studied fatty acid synthesis by Glomus intraradices and Gigaspora rosea. [(14)C]Acetate and [(14)C]sucrose were incorporated into a synthetic culture medium to test fatty acid synthetic ability in germinating spores (G. intraradices and G. rosea), mycorrhized carrot roots, and extraradical fungal mycelium (G. intrar...