The detection of Glomus spp. (arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi) forming mycorrhizas in three plants, at different stages of seedling development, using mycorrhiza-specific isozymes.

A series of glasshouse experiments was used to determine mycorrhiza-specific isozymes (MSIs) produced by five species of Glomus colonizing roots of a desert shrub legume (Anthyllis cytisoides L.), Thymus vulgaris L. and Allium porrum L. over time. Extracts of colonized roots were electrophoresed on non-denaturing polyacrylamide gels (PAGE) and stained for 10 different enzymes. Staining protocols for esterase, glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase, alkaline phosphatase and malate dehydrogenase provided MSIs for the mycorrhizas formed by different arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi that had colonized roots of the three host plants. There was no apparent correlation between levels of colonization or arbuscular intensities, at or between each sampling, and the presence of MSIs. The development of colonization by the AM fungi differed little between the three plants when assessed with two methods of estimating fungal biomass. The variety of MSIs detected might reflect the diversity of metabolic activities of these Glomus species and, possibly, differing ecological functions. The high-level induction of two alkaline phosphatase MSIs in the mycorrhizas of Anthyllis cytisoides colonized by Glomus microaggregatum BEG56 was used to track the fate of this fungus when the same plant was inoculated and transplanted into a semi-arid site in south-east Spain. The probable fungal origin of the isozyme was indicated by detection of the same isozyme in the extraradical mycelium formed by Glomus microaggregatum BEG56 on Allium porrum. The use of MSIs to detect the mycorrhizas of species of Glomus in colonized roots is discussed.