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Development of biological control for plant diseases is accepted as a durable and environmentally friendly alternative for agrochemicals. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), which form symbiotic associations with root systems of most agricultural, horticultural and hardwood crop species, have been suggested as widespread potential bioprotective agents. In the present study the ability of two AMF (Glomus mosseae and Glomus intraradices) to induce local or systemic resistance to Phytophthora parasitica in tomato roots have been compared using a split root experimental system. Glomus mosseae was effective in reducing disease symptoms produced by P. parasitica infection, and evidence points to a combination of local and systemic mechanisms being responsible for this bioprotector effect. The biochemical analysis of different plant defence-related enzymes showed a local induction of mycorrhiza-related new isoforms of the hydrolytic enzymes chitinase, chitosanase and beta-1,3-glucanase, as well as superoxide dismutase, an enzyme which is involved in cell protection against oxidative stress. Systemic alterations of the activity of some of the constitutive isoforms were also observed in non-mycorrhizal roots of mycorrhizal plants. Studies on the lytic activity against Phytophthora cell wall of root protein extracts also corroborated a systemic effect of mycorrhizal symbiosis on tomato resistance to Phytophthora.

The arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus mosseae is able to confer bioprotection against Phytophthora parasitica in tomato roots. Localized and induced systemic resistance (ISR) have been demonstrated to be involved in pathogen control in mycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal roots with a split root experimental system. Decreased pathogen development in mycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal parts of mycorrhizal root systems is associated with accumulation of phenolics and plant cell defense responses. G. mosseae-containing cortical cells in the mycorrhizal tissues are immune to the pathogen and exhibit a localized resistance response with the formation of cell wall appositions reinforced by callose adjacent to intercellular hyphae. The systemically induced resistance in nonmycorrhizal root parts is characterized by elicitation of host wall thickenings containing non-esterified pectins and PR-1a protein in reaction to intercellular pathogen hyphae, and by the formation of callose-rich encasement material around P. parasitica hyphae that are penetrating root cells. PR-la protein is detected in the pathogen wall only in these tissues. None of these cell reactions are observed in nonmycorrhizal pathogen-infected root systems, where disease development leads to host cell death. The cellular and molecular basis of bioprotection by an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus is discussed in relation to that induced by other nonpathogenic microorganisms.

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We compared root system morphogenesis of micropropogated transplants of Prunus cerasifera L. inoculated with either of the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi Glomus mosseae or Glomus intraradices or with the ericoid mycorrhizal species Hymenoscyphus ericae. All plants were grown in sand culture, irrigated with a nutrient solution that included a soluble source of phosphorus, for 75 days after transplanting. Arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization increased both the survival and growth (by over 100%) of transplants compared with either uninoculated controls or transplants inoculated with H. ericae. Arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization increased root, stem and leaf weights, leaf area, root length and specific leaf area, and it decreased root length/leaf area ratio, root/shoot weight ratio and specific root length. Both uptake of phosphorus and its concentration in leaves were increased by AM infection, although the time course of the relationships between intensity of AM infection and P nutrition were complex and suggested a role for factors other than nutrition. The time course for the development of infection varied. It was most rapid with G. mosseae, but it was ultimately higher with G. intraradices. None of the treatments significantly affected the lengths of adventitious roots or the first-, second- or third-order laterals that developed from them. Arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization increased the intensity of branching in all root orders with the effect being most obvious on first-order lateral roots where the number of branches increased from under 100 to over 300 brances m(-1). As a result, although first-order laterals made up 55% of the root systems of control plants, the comparable value was 36% in AM-infected plants. In contrast, second-order laterals represented 25% of control root systems, but 50% of AM-colonized root systems. Glomus intraradices but not G. mosseae increased root diameter. Anatomical studies revealed no changes in the overall form of the root tip, although there were changes in the diameter of the root cap, cell numbers and cell size. Hymenoscyphus ericae increased the duration of the metaphase index. Both AM fungal treatments increased the concentrations of soluble proteins in root extracts and modified the protein profiles by the elimination and addition of protein bands detected by PAGE analysis. We conclude that AM fungal inoculation influenced processes in the root system at different levels, but not all effects were due to improved P nutrition or increased physiological age.

Time-course analysis of root protein profiles was studied by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and silver staining in the model plant Medicago truncatula, inoculated either with the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus mosseae or with the nitrogen fixing bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti. Protein modifications in relation to the development of both symbioses included down- and upregulations, as well as newly induced polypeptides. Matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight-mass spectrometry after trypsin digestion clearly identified one polypeptide induced in nodulated roots as a M. truncatula leghemoglobin. Internal sequencing with a quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer and database searches confirmed the induction of proteins previously described in root symbioses, and revealed the implication of other proteins. In nodulated roots, one polypeptide was identified as an elongation factor Tu from S. meliloti, while another one could not be assigned a function. In mycorrhizal roots, analyzed proteins also included a protein of unknown function, as well as a glutathione-S-transferase, a fucosidase, a myosin-like protein, a serine hydroxymethyltransferase and a cytochrome-c-oxidase. These results emphasize the usefulness of proteome analysis in identifying molecular events occurring in plant root symbioses.

A gram-positive bacterium with antagonistic activity towards soilborne fungal pathogens has been isolated from the mycorrhizosphere of Sorghum bicolor inoculated with Glomus mosseae. It has been identified as Paenibacillus sp. strain B2 based on its analytical profile index and on 16S ribosomal DNA analysis. Besides having antagonistic activity, this bacterium stimulates mycorrhization.