Pure culture synthesis of ectomycorrhizae by Thelephora terrestris and Pisolithus tinctorius on different conifer hosts

Abstract

In a special plant-growth room, isolates of Thelephora terrestris produced basidiocarps and formed typical ectomycorrhizae with seedlings of bristlecone, jack, sand, lodgepole, shortleaf, slash, sugar, Austrian, longleaf, cluster, ponderosa, red, pitch, eastern white, Scots, loblolly, and Virginia pines and Douglas fir. Atypical mycorrhizae (lacking mantle) were formed on seedlings of Norway spruce and jack, Japanese red, and Himalayan pines. The formation of atypical mycorrhizae was considered a result of differences in the symbiotic–parasitic nature of the fungal symbionts on different hosts. Pisolithus tinctorius formed typical mycorrhizae with seedlings of jack, sand, Japanese red, shortleaf, slash, Austrian, longleaf, cluster, red, pitch, eastern white, Scots, loblolly, and Virginia pines. Reisolation of specific fungal symbionts from mycorrhizae of several pine hosts was successful.Mycorrhizae formed by T. terrestris were macroscopically and microscopically different from those of P. tinctorius, but mycorrhizae formed by different isolates of T. terrestris were indistinguishable from each other, regardless of host. These results suggest that the fungal symbiont determines color and morphology of ectomycorrhizae.