Journal
PEDOBIOLOGIA
Volume 53, Issue 3, Pages 197-201Publisher
ELSEVIER GMBH
DOI: 10.1016/j.pedobi.2009.10.002
Keywords
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal diversity; Root pathogenic fungi; Microbial communities; Root architecture; Competition; Plant defense
Categories
Funding
- Dahlem Center of Plant Sciences at Freie Universitat Berlin
- EU
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Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi can confer protection to host plants against some root pathogens, and several mechanisms for these phenomena have been proposed. If AM fungal taxa vary in the ways that they limit the negative effects of pathogens on host plants, additive and/or synergistic interactions among members of diverse AM fungal assemblages and communities may result in a greater pathogen protection than is currently predicted. However, in a review of the literature on interactions between AM and pathogenic fungi, we found few examples that compared the effectiveness of single- and multi-species AM fungal assemblages. Here, we briefly recount the generally recognized mechanisms of pathogen protection by AM fungi and present evidence, where appropriate, for functional diversity among AM fungal taxa with regard to these mechanisms. We propose that functional complementarity of AM fungal taxa in interactions with pathogens could mimic, or even be the cause of, previously observed relationships between AM fungal diversity and plant productivity. (C) 2009 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
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