Poster: Plant Pathogen/Symbiont Interactions
Abs #
545: Identification of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) species on Guasave Valley in Sinaloa, Mexico.
The potential agronomic use of symbiotic rhizosphere microorganisms such as AMF may have more possibilities to succeed by using endemic microorganisms rather than introduced species, since the endemic ones are adapted to local specific soil and climatic conditions. Since there is no reports characterizing AMF occurring at the northern region of Sinaloa, we have initiated studies to identify the most abundant AM fungal species in this agronomically important region of Mexico. To achieve this goal, a total of seventy-two soil samples from different locations of the Guasave valley have been analyzed. The taxonomic identification was carried out considering morphological and developmental features of the fungal spores. Additionally, single-spore PCR amplification of the internal transcribed sequences (ITS) rDNA is being used for molecular identification. Species of at least three different genus: Scutellospora, Gigaspora and Glomus have been identified in our samples. Three major morphotypes, which have been denominated as M1, M2 and M3, have been found to be most abundant in these soils. These morphotypes belong to the genus Glomus (M3), Gigaspora and Scutellospora (M1 and M2), and together represent up to 85% of the total spore counts in the soil samples. Colonization experiments in sorghum using native soils have shown that M1, M2 and M3 morphotypes colonize plants efficiently. Sequence and ITS rDNA analysis are being performed to identify species composition of each morphotype. Our initial results suggest that these morphotypes may represent a mix of up to five (M1 and M2) or six (M3) different species. Monosporic cultures are being obtained using microrhizotrons for final characterization of each morphotype.
