Micropropagated rose plants (Rosa hybrida L., cv. New Dawn) were inoculated with the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus Glomus intraradices (Schenk and Smith) and subjected to different drought regimens. The dual objectives of these experiments were to investigate the mechanism and the extent to which AM can prevent drought damages and whether physiological analyses reveal enhanced drought tolerance of an economically important plant such as the rose. In a long-term drought experiment with four different water regimens, visual scoring of wilt symptoms affirmed that AM in a selected host-symbiont combination increased plant performance. This effect was mostly expressed if moderate drought stress was constantly applied over a long period. In a short-term experiment in which severe drought stress was implemented and plants were allowed to recover after 4 or 9 days, no visual differences between mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal roses were observed. Therefore, the early physiological steps conferring drought tolerance were prone to investigation. Proline content in leaves proved to be an unsuitable marker for AM-induced drought tolerance, whereas analysis of chlorophyll a fluorescence using the JIP test (collecting stress-induced changes of the polyphasic O-J-I-P fluorescence kinetics in a non-destructive tissue screening) was more explanatory. Parameters derived from this test could describe the extent of foliar stress response and help to differentiate physiological mechanisms of stress tolerance. AM led to a more intense electron flow and a higher productive photosynthetic activity at several sites of the photosynthetic electron transport chain. A K step, known as a stress indicator of general character, appeared in the fluorescence transient only in drought-stressed non-mycorrhizal plants; conversely, the data elucidate a stabilising effect of AM on the oxygen-evolving complex at the donor site of photosystem (PS) II and at the electron-transport chain between PS II and PS I. If drought stress intensity was reduced by a prolonged and milder drying phase, these significant tolerance features were less pronounced or missing, indicating a possible threshold level for mycorrhizal tolerance induction.

Effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis on health of Linum usitatissimum infected by fungal pathogens were investigated exemplarily. Physiological and biochemical analyses were done to explain the mechanisms underlying the AM effects. AM plants showed increased resistance against the wilt pathogen (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lini), the level of this effects depended on the plant cultivars which all showed the same level of root colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). In contrary to that, AM plants were highly susceptible against the shoot pathogen Oidium lini, but they suffered less than non-AM plants in terms of shoot fresh weight, CO2 assimilation and content of sucrose in shoot apex. This indicates that AM not only activates resistance mechanisms but also can induce tolerance against pathogens. The concentration of phytohormones such as auxin-and gibberellin-like substances were increased in shoots of AM plants. In roots the ethylene production was increased, too. Furthermore the content and composition of free sterols were highly altered in leaves of AM plants. Root infection by AMF caused an increased respiratory activity and a reduced degree of DNA methylation, but both modifications only occurred in infected root parts indicating an increasing gene activity. The presented results suggest that nearly all parts of a plant are influenced by AM but not in the same manner. In the case of mildewed linseed the effect of AM on plant health was impressing, it indicates that AM has an ability to induce tolerance.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal barley-plants were more susceptible to the obligate biotrophic shoot pathogen Erysiphe graminis f. sp. hordei. In experiments under greenhouse and open-air conditions on leaves of mycorrhizal plants, the sporulation rate of the mildew fungus was more than twice that on control plants. However, mycorrhizal plants suffered less than non-mycorrhizal plants in terms of grain number, ear yield and thousand-grain weight. Disease-yield-relationship analysis showed that the symbiosis neutralised the positive correlation between disease severity and yield loss (up to 25% infected leaf area tested). After mildew infection, nitrogen in ears of nonmycorrhizal barley was higher because of an impaired starch accumulation during grain filling. In mycorrhizal plants, leaf disease did not impair either the quantity or quality of grain yield. This improved compensation in mycorrhizal plants was related to maintained photosynthetic capacity and a delay in pathogen-induced senescence. Thus filling of long-term storage pools (fructans in internodes) and consequently reallocation of these reserves during grain filling was improved. The results suggest that higher availability of energy and material during grain formation, together with longer physiological activity, were the basis of yield maintenance and, therefore, expression of mycorrhiza-induced tolerance towards the pathogen.

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In previous investigations, we found that Acremonium strictum (strain DSM 100709) developed intracellular structures with similarity to mycelia of ericoid mycorrhizal fungi in the rhizodermal cells of flax plants and in hair roots of Rhododendron plantlets. A. strictum had also been isolated from roots of ericaceous salal plants and was described as an unusual ericoid mycorrhizal fungus (ERMF). As its mycorrhizal traits were doubted, we revised the hypothesis of a mycorrhizal nature of A. strictum. A successful synthesis of mycorrhiza in hair roots of inoculated ericaceous plants was a first step of evidence, followed by fluorescence microscopy with FUN(®)1 cell stain to observe the vitality of the host cells at the early infection stage. In inoculation trials with in vitro-raised mycorrhiza-free Rhododendron plants in axenic liquid culture and in greenhouse substrate culture, A. strictum was never observed in living hair root cells. As compared to the ERMF Oidiodendron maius and Rhizoscyphus ericae that invaded metabolically active host cells and established a symbiotic unit, A. strictum was only found in cells that were dead or in the process of dying and in the apoplast. In conclusion, A. strictum does not behave like a common ERMF-if it is one at all. A comparison of A. strictum isolates from ericaceous and non-ericaceous hosts could reveal further identity details to generalize or specify our findings on the symbiotic nature of A. strictum. At least, the staining method enables to discern between true mycorrhizal and other root endophytes-a tool for further studies.

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Plant protection against soil-borne diseases has been a challenge in horticultural production of Ericaceae for a long time. We tested the hypothesis that ericoid mycorrhizal fungi (ERMF) control root pathogens. Isolates of ERMF previously obtained from Calluna vulgaris and Rhododendron hirsutum were selected based on growth inhibiting activity against Oomycetes in dual agar plate tests. In addition, we assessed their impact on economically important Pythium spec. and Phytophthora cinnamomi in sterile Rhododendron plantlets in a liquid culture system, which is suitable for continuous observations of the infection process. For this purpose, rooted cuttings of micro-propagated Rhododendron plantlets were transferred to a mineral solution and subsequently inoculated with either Oidiodendron maius or the ERMF isolates. Before the root pathogens were applied to the experimental system, the symbioses were established over a four-week period. Mycorrhizal development, pathogen infection sites and development in mycorrhizal plants and non-mycorrhizal control plants were assessed microscopically. The root-colonising intensity of the tested ERMF differed considerably, but each of the applied ERMF impaired external pathogen mycelium and reduced pathogenic infections. A complete reduction was achieved at higher ERMF colonisation levels. The failure of symbiosis formation allowed pathogens to infect and spread. The quantification data concerning mycorrhiza frequencies and extramatrical hyphal nets provided details for a discussion on the suppressive effects of ERMF on the pathogens. The tested ERMF confer at least a localized protection from pathogen attack through suppression prior to infection. It is now to prove, whether these biocontrol effects will also be expressed in pot experiments.