Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Infrageneric variation in partner specificity: multiple ectomycorrhizal symbionts associate with Gnetum gnemon (Gnetophyta) in Papua New Guinea

  • Short Note
  • Published:
Mycorrhiza Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Majority of autotrophic plants and fungi associate with multiple mycorrhizal partners, with notable exceptions being Gnetum africanum, Pisonia grandis, and Alnus spp from the phytobiont perspective. We hypothesized that an understorey tree species Gnetum gnemon hosts a narrow range of mycobionts as shown in G. africanum and suggested for South American species. Sampling and molecular analysis of G. gnemon root tips revealed that besides Scleroderma spp. this gymnosperm tree associates with several fungal species from unrelated lineages. However, all Scleroderma isolates that associate with Gnetum spp. belong to a narrow clade close to Scleroderma sinnamariense. Our results demonstrate for the first time that specificity for mycobionts may substantially differ within an ectomycorrhizal plant genus.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

References

  • Abarenkov K, Tedersoo L, Nilsson RH, Vellak K, Saar I, Veldre V, Parmasto E, Prous M, Aan A, Ots M, Kurina O, Ostonen I, Jõgeva J, Halapuu S, Põldmaa K, Toots M, Truu J, Larsson K-H, Kõljalg U (2010) PlutoF—a web based workbench for ecological and taxonomic research with an online implementation for fungal ITS sequences. Evol Bioinforma 6:189–196

    Google Scholar 

  • Bechem EET (2011) Growth and in vitro phosphate solubilising ability of Scleroderma sinnamariense: a tropical mycorrhiza fungus isolated from Gnetum africanum ectomycorrhiza root tips. J Yeast Fung Res 2:132–142

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bechem EET, Alexander IJ (2009) Inoculum production and inoculation of Gnetum africanum rooted cuttings using a range of mycorrhizal fungi. Int J Biol Chem Sci 3:578–586

    Google Scholar 

  • Bechem EET, Alexander IJ (2012a) Mycorrhiza status of Gnetum spp. in Cameroon: evaluating diversity with a view to ameliorating domestication efforts. Mycorrhiza 22:99–108

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bechem EET, Alexander IJ (2012b) Phosphorus nutrition of ectomycorrhizal Gnetum africanum plantlets from Cameroon. Plant Soil 353:379–393

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bidartondo MI (2005) The evolutionary ecology of mycoheterotrophy. New Phytol 167:335–352

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bjorbækmo MFM, Carlsen T, Brysting A, Vrålstad T, Høiland K, Ugland KI, Geml J, Schumacher T, Kauserud H (2010) High diversity of root associated fungi in both alpine and arctic Dryas octopetala. BMC Plant Biol 10:244

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bruns TD, Bidartondo MI, Taylor DL (2002) Host specificity in ectomycorrhizal communities: what do the exceptions tell us? Integr Comp Biol 42:352–359

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cadiz RT, Florido HB (2001) Bago. Gnetum gnemon Linn. Res Inform Ser Ecosyst 13:1–6. Available at: http://erdb.denr.gov.ph/publications/rise/r_v13n2.pdf

    Google Scholar 

  • Chambers SM, Hitchcock CJ, Cairney JWG (2005) Ectomycorrhizal mycobionts of Pisonia grandis on coral cays in the Capricorn-Bunker group, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Mycol Res 109:1105–1111

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fassi B (1957) Ectomycorrhizes chez le Gnetum africanum Welw. due a Scleroderma sp. Bull Soc Mycol Fr 73:280–286

    Google Scholar 

  • Guzman G, Miller OK, Lodge DJ, Baroni TJ (2004) Scleroderma stellatum vs. Scleroderma bermudense: the status of Scleroderma echinulatum and the first record of Veligaster nitidum. Mycologia 96:1370–1379

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harrington TJ, Mitchell DT (2005) Ectomycorrhizas associated with a relict population of Dryas octopetala in the Burren, Western Ireland. II. Composition, structure and temporal variation in the ectomycorrhizal community. Mycorrhiza 15:435–445

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hayward JA, Horton TR (2012) Edaphic factors do not govern the ectomycorrhizal specificity of Pisonia grandis (Nyctaginaceae). Mycorrhiza. doi:10.1007/s00572-012-0442-2

  • Hynson N, Bruns TD (2010) Fungal hosts for mycoheterotrophic plants: a non-exclusive, but highly selective club. New Phytol 185:598–601

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McDonald KR, Pennell J, Frank JL, Southworth D (2010) Ectomycorrhizas of Cercocarpus ledifolius (Rosaceae). Am J Bot 97:1867–1872

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Molina R (1981) Ectomycorrhizal specificity in the genus Alnus. Can J Bot 59:325–334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Molina R, Massicotte H, Trappe JM (1992) Specificity phenomena in mycorrhizal symbiosis: community-ecological consequences and practical implications. In: Allen M (ed) Mycorrhizal functioning. An integrative plant–fungal process. Chapman and Hall, New York, pp 357–423

    Google Scholar 

  • Moyersoen B (1993) Ectomicorrizas i micorrizas vesiculo-arbusculares en Caatinga Amazonica del Sur de Venezuela. Scientia Guaianae 3:1–82

    Google Scholar 

  • Onguene NA (2000) Diversity and dynamics of mycorrhizal associations in tropical rain forests with different disturbance regimes in South Cameroon. Tropenbos Cameroon Series 3. University of Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Google Scholar 

  • Peay KG, Kennedy PG, Davies SJ, Tan S, Bruns TD (2010) Potential link between plant and fungal distributions in a dipterocarp rainforest: community and phylogenetic structure of tropical ectomycorrhizal fungi across a plant and soil ecotone. New Phytol 185:529–542

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pegler DN (1983) Agaric flora of the Lesser Antilles. Kew Bull Addn Ser IX:1–668

    Google Scholar 

  • Phosri C, Põlme S, Taylor AFS, Kõljalg U, Suwannasai N, Tedersoo L (2012) Diversity and community composition of ectomycorrhizal fungi in a dry deciduous dipterocarp forest in Thailand. Biodivers Conserv. doi:10.1007/s10531-012-0250-1

  • Pritsch K, Boyle H, Munch JC, Buscot F (1997) Characterization and identification of black alder ectomycorrhizas by PCR/RFLP analyses of the rDNA internal transcribed spacer. New Phytol 137:357–369

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ryberg M, Larsson E, Molau U (2009) Ectomycorrhizal diversity in Dryas octopetala and Salix reticulata in an Alpine cliff ecosystem. Arct Alp Res 41:506–514

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singer R, Araujo I, Ivory MH (1983) The ectotrophically mycorrhizal fungi of the neotropical lowlands, especially Central Amazonia. Nova Hedwig 77:1–352

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith ME, Henkel TW, Aime MC, Fremier AK, Vilgalys R (2011) Ectomycorrhizal fungal diversity and community structure on three co-occurring leguminous canopy tree species in a neotropical rainforest. New Phytol 192:699–712

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • St. John TV (1980) A survey of mycorrhizal infection in an Amazonian rain forest. Acta Amazon 10:527–533

    Google Scholar 

  • Stamatakis A, Hoover P, Rougemont J (2008) A rapid bootstrap algorithm for the RAxML web-servers. Syst Biol 75:758–771

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suvi T, Tedersoo L, Abarenkov K, Gerlach J, Beaver K, Kõljalg U (2010) Mycorrhizal symbionts of Pisonia grandis and P. sechellarum in Seychelles: identification of mycorrhizal fungi and description of new Tomentella species. Mycologia 102:522–533

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tedersoo L, Suvi T, Beaver K, Kõljalg U (2007) Ectomycorrhizal fungi of the Seychelles: diversity patterns and host shifts from the native Vateriopsis seychellarum (Dipterocarpaceae) and Intsia bijuga (Caesalpiniaceae) to the introduced Eucalyptus robusta (Myrtaceae), but not Pinus caribea (Pinaceae). New Phytol 175:321–333

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tedersoo L, Jairus T, Horton BM, Abarenkov K, Suvi T, Saar I, Kõljalg U (2008) Strong host preference of ectomycorrhizal fungi in a Tasmanian wet sclerophyll forest as revealed by DNA barcoding and taxon-specific primers. New Phytol 180:479–490

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tedersoo L, Suvi T, Jairus T, Ostonen I, Põlme S (2009) Revisiting ectomycorrhizal fungi of Alnus: differential host specificity, diversity and determinants of the fungal community. New Phytol 182:727–735

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tedersoo L, May TW, Smith ME (2010a) Ectomycorrhizal lifestyle in fungi: global diversity, distribution, and evolution of phylogenetic lineages. Mycorrhiza 20:217–263

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tedersoo L, Sadam A, Zambrano M, Valencia R, Bahram M (2010b) Low diversity and high host preference of ectomycorrhizal fungi in Western Amazonia, a neotropical biodiversity hotspot. ISME J 4:465–471

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tedersoo L, Bahram M, Jairus T, Bechem E, Chinoya S, Mpumba R, Leal M, Randrianjohany E, Razafimandimbison S, Sadam A, Naadel T, Kõljalg U (2011) Spatial structure and the effects of host and soil environments on communities of ectomycorrhizal fungi in wooded savannas and rain forests of Continental Africa and Madagascar. Mol Ecol 20:3071–3080

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • White TJ, Bruns TD, Lee SB, Taylor JW (1990) Amplification and direct sequencing of fungal ribosomal RNA genes for phylogenetics. In: Innis MA, Gelfand DH, Sninsky JJ, White TJ (eds) PCR protocols: a guide to methods and applications. Academic, New York, pp 315–322

    Google Scholar 

  • Won H, Renner SS (2006) Dating dispersal and radiation in the gymnosperm Gnetum (Gnetales)—clock calibration when outgroup relationships are uncertain. Syst Biol 55:610–622

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank I.J. Alexander for sharing unpublished sequence data of fungi associated with G. africanum. This study was funded by Estonian Science Foundation grants no 8235 and 9286 and FIBIR.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, Tartu University, 14A Ravila, 50411, Tartu, Estonia

    Leho Tedersoo & Sergei Põlme

  2. Natural History Museum, Tartu University, Tartu, Estonia

    Leho Tedersoo

Authors
  1. Leho Tedersoo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sergei Põlme
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Leho Tedersoo.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Tedersoo, L., Põlme, S. Infrageneric variation in partner specificity: multiple ectomycorrhizal symbionts associate with Gnetum gnemon (Gnetophyta) in Papua New Guinea. Mycorrhiza 22, 663–668 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-012-0458-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-012-0458-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation