查看文章

Most higher plants have the ability to form arbuscular endomycorrhiza (AM); a symbiotic association of the plant root with fungi belonging to the order of Glomales. These fungi grow towards the inner cortical cells of the root where they differentiate into highly branched structures, the arbuscules (Figure 1). In AM symbiosis, the fungus also forms hyphae outside the plant and these provide a connection between the soil and the inner part of the plant and they facilitate the uptake of nutrients such as phosphate (for reviews see: Gianinazzi‐Pearson, 1996; Harrison, 1997).

image Figure 1. Pea root cortex infected by the mycorrhizal fungus Glomus intraradices (A) and a Rhizobium leguminosarum bv viciae induced infection thread in a vetch‐root hair (B). The AM fungus has entered the root intercellularly and it has formed an arbuscle [(A), Trypan blue staining]. In contrast, Rhizobium enters its host plant intracellularly via …