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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Symbiotic Interactions
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1450829
This article is part of the Research Topic Mechanisms Behind Stress Tolerance Induced by Mycorrhizal Symbioses View all articles

Cold storage promotes germination and colonization of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal hyphae as propagules

Provisionally accepted
Xiaodi Liu Xiaodi Liu 1Guojian Ye Guojian Ye 1Zengwei Feng Zengwei Feng 1Yang Zhou Yang Zhou 1Qin Yongqiang Qin Yongqiang 1Qing Yao Qing Yao 2*Honghui Zhu Honghui Zhu 1*
  • 1 Guangdong Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Science, Guangzhou, China
  • 2 College of Horticulture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The inoculants of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) propagated by the in vitro culture system is important in scientific research; however, the long-term storage reduces the spore germination rate. The propagules of AMF consist of three components, including spores, hyphae and colonized root fragments. It is well known that cold storage can improve the germination rate of AMF spores, with limited investigations on the germination of other propagules. In this study, AMF inoculants were stored at 25°C or at 4°C (cold storage) to investigate the effect of cold storage on the propagule viability of the AMF Rhizophagus irregularis DAOM197198. The germination rate of propagules (spores, hyphae, root fragments) and their colonization ability were determined at 3 and 6 months after storage. The results showed that the spore germination rate remained unchanged after storage for 0 and 1 month at 25°C, but decreased rapidly after storage for 3 months. Furthermore, we investigated the hyphal germination rate for the first time. The germination rates of spores, hyphae and root fragments were significantly higher under cold storage compared to those at 25°C. Additionally, we classified the germ tubes of hypha into two types: long-type (L-type) and short type (S-type). The germination rate and the proportion of L-type germ tubes of hyphae significantly increased with cold storage time, which was conducive to colonization. The results of mycorrhizal colonization confirmed that cold storage significantly increased the colonization of hypha compared with 25°C treatment. Cold storage may break the dormancy of AMF propagules and activate related enzymes to promote the germination and colonization of propagules, which needs further investigation.

    Keywords: arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, Cold storage, Propagules, Hyphae, germination and colonization

    Received: 18 Jun 2024; Accepted: 14 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Liu, Ye, Feng, Zhou, Yongqiang, Yao and Zhu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Qing Yao, College of Horticulture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, China
    Honghui Zhu, Guangdong Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Science, Guangzhou, China

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