title: Development of an autotrophic culture system for the in vitro mycorrhization of potato plantlets.
abstract: An autotrophic culture system was developed for the in vitro mycorrhization of potato plantlets. Roots of micropropagated plantlets were associated to an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus under in vitro conditions, while shoots developed under open air conditions. Several thousand spores, an extensive extraradical mycelium and an abundant root colonization were obtained. Spores were able to colonize new plantlets under the same conditions. These results support the capacity of the autotrophic culture system to continuously culture arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and may serve as a powerful tool to investigate various aspects of the symbiosis for which a source-sink relationship and photosynthetic active tissues are necessary.
authors.affiliation: Université catholique de Louvain, Unité de Microbiologie, Croix du Sud 3, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
authors.forename: Liesbeth
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Voets
authors.forename: Hervé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dupré de Boulois
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Renard
authors.forename: Désiré-Georges
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Strullu
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Declerck
mesh_terms: D000064:Acclimatization; D046508:Culture Techniques; D038821:Mycorrhizae / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000382:microbiology; D011198:Solanum tuberosum / Q000382:microbiology*