title: Breaking dormancy is spores of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus intraradices: a critical cold-storage period.
abstract: To elucidate the effect of cold storage on spore dormancy in the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus Glomus intraradices, spores were cold stratified at 4 degrees C, for either 0, 3, 7, 14, 90 or 120 days, prior to germination tests at 25 degrees C. The results showed that cold stratification longer than 14 days significantly increased spore germination. Moreover, the longer cold storage periods clearly reduced spore mortality from 90% to 50% and considerably altered the hyphal growth pattern. Long polarized hyphae were only observed after cold stratification periods longer than 14 days, involving consequences for root infectivity. The results clearly show that environmental factors, e.g., coldness, can affect the physiology of AM fungal spores.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche en Biologie Forestière, Pavillon C.-E.-Marchand, Université Laval, Ste-Foy, Québec G1K-7P4, Canada. cjuge@rsvs.ulaval.ca
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Juge
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Samson
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bastien
authors.forename: Horst
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Vierheilig
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Coughlan
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Piché
mesh_terms: D003080:Cold Temperature; D005658:Fungi / Q000502:physiology*; D025301:Hyphae / Q000502:physiology; D038821:Mycorrhizae / Q000502:physiology*; D012034:Refrigeration; D013172:Spores, Fungal / Q000502:physiology*