Large-scale parallel 454 sequencing reveals host ecological group specificity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in a boreonemoral forest.
* Knowledge of the diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in natural ecosystems is a major bottleneck in mycorrhizal ecology. Here, we aimed to apply 454 sequencing--providing a new level of descriptive power--to assess the AMF diversity in a boreonemoral forest. * 454 sequencing reads of the small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) gene of Glomeromycota were assigned to sequence groups by blast searches against a custom-made annotated sequence database. * We detected 47 AMF taxa in the roots of 10 plant species in a 10 x 10 m plot, which is almost the same as the number of plant species in the whole studied forest. There was a significant difference between AMF communities in the roots of forest specialist plant species and in the roots of habitat generalist plant species. Forest plant species hosted 22 specialist AMF taxa, and the generalist plants shared all but one AMF taxon with forest plants, including globally distributed generalist fungi. These AMF taxa that have been globally recorded only in forest ecosystems were significantly over-represented in the roots of forest plant species. * Our findings suggest that partner specificity in AM symbiosis may occur at the level of ecological groups, rather than at the species level, of both plant and fungal partners.
Öpik
M
M
Department of Botany, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, 40 Lai St., 51005 Tartu, Estonia.|Scottish Crop Research Institute, Invergowrie, Dundee DD2 5DA, UK.
Metsis
M
M
Tallinn University of Technology, Centre for Biology of Integrated Systems, Akadeemia tee 15A, Tallinn 12618, Estonia.|BiotaP LLC, Akadeemia tee 15, Tallinn 12618, Estonia.
Daniell
T J
TJ
Scottish Crop Research Institute, Invergowrie, Dundee DD2 5DA, UK.
Zobel
M
M
Department of Botany, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, 40 Lai St., 51005 Tartu, Estonia.
Moora
M
M
Department of Botany, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, 40 Lai St., 51005 Tartu, Estonia.
D044822:Biodiversity; D017753:Ecosystem; D005658:Fungi / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D055137:Glomeromycota / Q000235:genetics*; D038821:Mycorrhizae / Q000235:genetics*; D018517:Plant Roots; D012331:RNA, Fungal; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal; D054682:Ribosome Subunits, Small, Eukaryotic / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000379:methods; D013045:Species Specificity; D014197:Trees / Q000235:genetics*
D012331:RNA, Fungal; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal