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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2006, p. 1523-1531, Vol. 72, No. 2
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.72.2.1523-1531.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Colonization of Tomato Root by Pathogenic and Nonpathogenic Fusarium oxysporum Strains Inoculated Together and Separately into the Soil

Chantal Olivain,¹ Claude Humbert,² Jarmila Nahalkova,³ Jamshid Fatehi,⁴ Floriane L'Haridon,¹ and Claude Alabouvette^1*

UMR Microbiologie Géochimie des Sols INRA, BP 86510, F-21065 Dijon Cedex,¹ Centre de Microscopie Appliquée à la Biologie, Université de Bourgogne, F-21078 Dijon Cedex,France,² Department of Molecular Evolution, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18C, S-75236 Uppsala, Sweden,³ The Mase Laboratories, P.O. Box 148, S-75104 Uppsala, Sweden⁴

Received 9 May 2005/ Accepted 5 November 2005

In soil, fungal colonization of plant roots has been traditionally studied by indirect methods such as microbial isolation that do not enable direct observation of infection sites or of interactions between fungal pathogens and their antagonists. Confocal laser scanning microscopy was used to visualize the colonization of tomato roots in heat-treated soil and to observe the interactions between a nonpathogenic strain, Fo47, and a pathogenic strain, Fol8, inoculated onto tomato roots in soil. When inoculated separately, both fungi colonized the entire root surface, with the exception of the apical zone. When both strains were introduced together, they both colonized the root surface and were observed at the same locations. When Fo47 was introduced at a higher concentration than Fol8, it colonized much of the root surface, but hyphae of Fol8 could still be observed at the same location on the root. There was no exclusion of the pathogenic strain by the presence of the nonpathogenic strain. These results are not consistent with the hypothesis that specific infection sites exist on the root for Fusarium oxysporum and instead support the hypothesis that competition occurs for nutrients rather than for infection sites.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: INRA, UMR MGS, 17 Rue Sully, BP 86510, F-21065 Dijon Cedex, France. Phone: 33 380 69 30 41. Fax: 33 380 69 32 24. E-mail: alabouvette{at}dijon.inra.fr.

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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2006, p. 1523-1531, Vol. 72, No. 2
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.72.2.1523-1531.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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