Ectomycorrhizal Fungi and Their Applications

Abstract

Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi form association with relatively small number of plants that dominate boreal, temperate, Mediterranean, and some subtropical forest ecosystems. These plant species have been able to acquire metabolic capabilities through symbioses with ECM fungi, thus improving their mineral nutrition and growth in several ecological niches. Mycorrhizal fungi can also play several other important ecological roles, including the protection of plants from abiotic and biotic stresses. Several "targeted" metagenomic projects have been carried out, or are now in progress, in order to identify the fungal communities in soil, including ECM fungi, which are present in various habitats (e.g., forest and truffl eground soils, etc.). ECM fungi, which are important both because of their economic value as edible fungi (i.e., truffl es, boletes) and because of their application in reforestation projects, are the subject of this chapter, in which the recent advances in ECM fungal communities are reviewed, focusing mainly on the applicative aspects related to the use of these fungi.

Recent Insights on Biological and Ecological Aspects of Ectomycorrhizal Fungi and Their Interactions

“…Furthermore, this work provides comparison of the two ITS regions, ITS1 and ITS2, for fungal communities assessment. Changes in ECM fungal communities have been registered in many investigations ( Mello et al, 2015b ). Hui et al (2011) have observed, in a Finnish forest, that a long-term exposition to Pb contamination can result in a shift in the composition of the ECM community associated with P. sylvestris L., as well as an increase in the abundance of the OTUs corresponding to the Thelephora genus and a decrease in the frequency of OTUs assigned to Pseudotomentella , Suillus , and Tylospora .…”

“…From the ecological point of view, the development of the ECM symbiosis and of the fruiting bodies of T. melanosporum is associated to the formation of a burnt area (known by the French word brulé), characterized by little vegetation around their host plants because of the phytotoxic effects generated by the truffle metabolites and volatile organic compounds ( Splivallo et al, 2011 ). Metagenomics data applied to French truffle-grounds have showed a reduced fungal biodiversity, a dominance of T. melanosporum and a reduced presence both of the ECM Basidiomycota and of bacteria belonging to Pseudomonas and Flavobacteriaceae inside the brulé, together with a reduction of richness of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi ( Napoli et al, 2010 ; Mello et al, 2011 , 2013 , 2015b ; Mello and Zampieri, 2017 ). In order to relate microbial community composition to ecological processes happening in the brulé, Zampieri et al (2016) applied a metaproteomics analysis to the brulé previously characterized by metagenomics, and cross-referenced the resulting proteins with a database they constructed, incorporating the metagenomics data for the organisms previously identified in this soil, including the black truffle T. melanosporum.…”

Different patterns of belowground fungal diversity along altitudinal gradients with respect to microhabitat and guild types

“…Because of their essential roles in ecosystem processes, belowground fungi are important for forest management and ecosystem restoration [17][18][19]. However, our understanding of the belowground ecosystem of forests is still limited due to the complexity of belowground fungal species [18,20], diverse forms of plant-fungi interactions [21,22], and the variable spatial structure within belowground forest.…”