Arbuscular-mycorrhizal fungi are obligate endosymbionts that colonize the roots of almost 80% of land plants. This paper describes the employment of a combined morphological and molecular approach to demonstrate that the cytoplasm of the arbuscular-mycorrhizal fungus Gigaspora margarita harbors a further bacterial endosymbiont. Intracytoplasmic bacterium-like organisms (BLOs) were detected ultrastructurally in its spores and germinating and symbiotic mycelia. Morphological observations with a fluorescent stain revealed about 250,000 live bacteria inside each spore. The sequence for the small-subunit rRNA gene obtained for the BLOs from the spores was compared with those for representatives of the eubacterial lineages. Molecular phylogenetic analysis unambiguously showed that the endosymbiont of G. margarita was an rRNA group II pseudomonad (genus Burkholderia). PCR assays with specifically designed oligonucleotides were used to check that the sequence came from the BLOs. Successful amplification was obtained when templates from both the spores and the symbiotic mycelia were used. A band of the expected length was also obtained from spores of a Scutellospora sp. No bands were given by the negative controls. These findings indicate that mycorrhizal systems can include plant, fungal, and bacterial cells.

Fusarium oxysporum MSA35 [wild-type (WT) strain] is an antagonistic Fusarium that lives in association with a consortium of bacteria belonging to the genera Serratia, Achromobacter, Bacillus and Stenotrophomonas in an Italian soil suppressive to Fusarium wilt. Typing experiments and virulence tests provided evidence that the F. oxysporum isolate when cured of the bacterial symbionts [the cured (CU) form], is pathogenic, causing wilt symptoms identical to those caused by F. oxysporum f. sp. lactucae. Here, we demonstrate that small volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from the WT strain negatively influence the mycelial growth of different formae speciales of F. oxysporum. Furthermore, these VOCs repress gene expression of two putative virulence genes in F. oxysporum lactucae strain Fuslat10, a fungus against which the WT strain MSA 35 has antagonistic activity. The VOC profile of the WT and CU fungus shows different compositions. Sesquiterpenes, mainly caryophyllene, were present in the headspace only of WT MSA 35. No sesquiterpenes were found in the volatiles of ectosymbiotic Serratia sp. strain DM1 and Achromobacter sp. strain MM1. Bacterial volatiles had no effects on the growth of the different ff. spp. of F. oxysporum examined. Hyphae grownwithVOCfrom WT F. oxysporum f. sp. lactucae strain MSA 35 were hydrophobic whereas those grown without VOCs were not, suggesting a correlation between the presence of volatiles in the atmosphere and the phenotype of the mycelium. This is the first report of VOC production by antagonistic F. oxysporum MSA35 and their effects on pathogenic F. oxysporum. The results obtained in this work led us to propose a new potential direct long-distance mechanism for antagonism by F. oxysporum MSA 35 mediated by VOCs. Antagonism could be the consequence of both reduction of pathogen mycelial growth and inhibition of pathogen virulence gene expression.

Intracellular bacteria have been found previously in one isolate of the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungusGigaspora margarita BEG 34. In this study, we extended our investigation to 11 fungal isolates obtained from different geographic areas and belonging to six different species of the family Gigasporaceae. With the exception of Gigaspora rosea, isolates of all of the AM species harbored bacteria, and their DNA could be PCR amplified with universal bacterial primers. Primers specific for the endosymbiotic bacteria of BEG 34 could also amplify spore DNA from four species. These specific primers were successfully used as probes for in situ hybridization of endobacteria in G. margarita spores. Neighbor-joining analysis of the 16S ribosomal DNA sequences obtained from isolates of Scutellospora persica, Scutellospora castanea, and G. margarita revealed a single, strongly supported branch nested in the genus Burkholderia.Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are obligate biotrophs that belong to the order Glomales and develop in close relationship with the roots of about 80% of land plants. Fossil and molecular data have demonstrated that AM fungi are very ancient, dating back to 350 to 400 million years ago (28, 30). The success of AM fungi in evolution is mainly due to their central role in the capture of nutrients from the soil (29). Despite recent breakthroughs in our knowledge of the molecular basis of plant-fungus interactions (1, 12), many aspects of the biology of AM fungi, particularly their genomes, are still obscure due to their biotrophic status, their multinuclear condition, and an unexpected level of genetic variability (13,15,17).A further level of complexity is due to the presence of cytoplasmic structures initially termed bacterium-like organisms (BLOs) that have been found in different AM fungal species (Glomus calidonium, Acaulospora laevis, Gigaspora margarita) by electron microscopy (7,18,21,27). A combined morphological and molecular approach has shown that BLOs in the spores of G. margarita (isolate BEG 34) are true bacteria (6). Amplification of bacterial 16S RNA genes from total spore DNA followed by direct sequencing indicated a homogeneous bacterial population closely related to the genus Burkholderia (6). Attempts to isolate and grow these endobacteria from spores have been unsuccessful so far.To determine whether intracellular bacteria occur sporadically in individual AM fungal isolates or are a common feature in the family Gigasporaceae, we investigated using morphological and molecular approaches, two more isolates of G. margarita, derived from distant geographic areas, and nine isolates

In this paper we report the identification and characterization of a DNA region containing putative nif genes and belonging to a Burkholderia endosymbiont of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Gigaspora margarita. A genomic library of total DNA extracted from the fungal spores was also representative of the bacterial genome and was used to investigate the prokaryotic genome. Screening of the library with Azospirillum brasilense nifHDK genes as the prokaryotic probes led to the identification of a 6,413-bp region. Analysis revealed three open reading frames encoding putative proteins with a very high degree of sequence similarity with the two subunits (NifD and NifK) of the component I and with component II (NifH) of nitrogenase from different diazotrophs. The three genes were arranged in an operon similar to that shown by most archaeal and bacterial diazotrophs. PCR experiments with primers designed on the Burkholderia nifHDK genes and Southern blot analysis demonstrate that they actually belong to the genome of the G. margarita endosymbiont. They offer, therefore, the first sequence for the nif operon described for Burkholderia. Reverse transcriptase PCR experiments with primers designed on the Burkholderia nifH and nifD genes and performed on total RNA extracted from spores demonstrate that the gene expression was limited to the germination phase. A phylogenetic analysis performed on the available nifK sequences placed the endosymbiotic Burkholderia close to A. brasilense.