title: Rapid determination of fungal colonization and arbuscule formation in roots of Medicago truncatula using real-time (RT) PCR.
abstract: The quantifications of root colonization and symbiotic activity in the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) association of Medicago truncatula and Glomus intraradices were performed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR). A strong correlation between fungal colonization of the root system and the amounts of fungal rDNA and rRNA were shown. In contrast, the transcript levels of the AM-specific phosphate transporter 4 from M. truncatula (MtPT4) correlate with arbuscule formation rather than with fungal colonization. These results suggest (i) that real-time PCR assay is a rapid, useful, and accurate method for the determination of arbuscular mycorrhizal features, (ii) that the amount of fungal rDNA or rRNA is a good parameter to estimate fungal colonization, and (iii) that it is necessary to evaluate the amount of other transcripts-like the MtPT4 transcript-to obtain additional information about the symbiotic state of the colonized root system.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Department of Secondary Metabolism, Weinberg 3, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany. sisayenko@ipb-halle.de
authors.forename: Stanislav
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Isayenkov
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fester
authors.forename: Bettina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hause
mesh_terms: D005658:Fungi / Q000502:physiology*; D046913:Medicago truncatula / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000382:microbiology*; D038821:Mycorrhizae / Q000502:physiology*; D028061:Phosphate Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D028061:Phosphate Transport Proteins; D010940:Plant Proteins