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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, May 2005, p. 2592-2599, Vol. 71, No. 5
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.71.5.2592-2599.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

¹³C Incorporation into Signature Fatty Acids as an Assay for Carbon Allocation in Arbuscular Mycorrhiza

Pål Axel Olsson,^* Ingrid M. van Aarle, Mayra E. Gavito, Per Bengtson, and Göran Bengtsson

Department of Ecology, Ecology Building, Lund University, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden

Received 7 July 2004/ Accepted 19 November 2004

The ubiquitous arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi consume significant amounts of plant assimilated C, but this C flow has been difficult to quantify. The neutral lipid fatty acid 16:15 is a quantitative signature for most arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in roots and soil. We measured carbon transfer from four plant species to the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus intraradices by estimating ¹³C enrichment of 16:15 and compared it with ¹³C enrichment of total root and mycelial C. Carbon allocation to mycelia was detected within 1 day in monoxenic arbuscular mycorrhizal root cultures labeled with [¹³C]glucose. The ¹³C enrichment of neutral lipid fatty acid 16:15 extracted from roots increased from 0.14% 1 day after labeling to 2.2% 7 days after labeling. The colonized roots usually were more enriched for ¹³C in the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal neutral lipid fatty acid 16:15 than for the root specific neutral lipid fatty acid 18:26,9. We labeled plant assimilates by using ¹³CO₂ in whole-plant experiments. The extraradical mycelium often was more enriched for ¹³C than was the intraradical mycelium, suggesting rapid translocation of carbon to and more active growth by the extraradical mycelium. Since there was a good correlation between ¹³C enrichment in neutral lipid fatty acid 16:15 and total ¹³C in extraradical mycelia in different systems (r² = 0.94), we propose that the total amount of labeled C in intraradical and extraradical mycelium can be calculated from the ¹³C enrichment of 16:15. The method described enables evaluation of C flow from plants to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to be made without extraction, purification and identification of fungal mycelia.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Microbial Ecology, Department of Ecology, Ecology Building, Lund University, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden. Phone: 46-46-222-9614. Fax: 46-46-222-4158. E-mail: pal_axel.olsson{at}mbioekol.lu.se.

Present address: Microbial Ecology, Groningen University, Biological Center, 9750AA Haren, The Netherlands.

Present address: Centro de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia, Mexico.

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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, May 2005, p. 2592-2599, Vol. 71, No. 5
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.71.5.2592-2599.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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