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ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Range Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #148345
Title: A METHOD OF EVALUATING SYSTEMIC COLONIZATION OF LEAVES BY DARK SEPTATE FUNGAL ENDOPHYTES IN BOUTELOUA ERIOPIDA (TORR.) TORR., A NATIVE GRASS IN ARID SOUTHWESTERN USA RANGELANDS

Author
item Aaltonen, Ronald
item Barrow, Jerry

Submitted to: International Conference on Mycorrhizae Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/10/2003
Publication Date: 8/10/2003
Citation: AALTONEN, R.E., BARROW, J.R. A METHOD OF EVALUATING SYSTEMIC COLONIZATION OF LEAVES BY DARK SEPTATE FUNGAL ENDOPHYTES IN BOUTELOUA ERIOPIDA (TORR.) TORR., A NATIVE GRASS IN ARID SOUTHWESTERN USA RANGELANDS. 4TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MYCORRHIZAE. 2003. ABSTRACT P. 128.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Dominant native grasses in arid southwestern USA rangelands are more extensively colonized by dark septate endophytic fungi than by conventional mycorrhizal fungi. A method was developed to determine the nature and extent of colonization of leaves of Bouteloua eriopida (Torr.) Torr. Photosynthetically active leaves were scraped with a scalpel to separate tissue layers, dual stained with trypan blue and Sudan IV, placed on a slide and analyzed at 1000X with differential interference microscopy. All leaf cells were colonized and internal fungal morphology was highly variable. Sudan IV stained lipid bodies associated with fungal protoplasts. Nonstained hyaline hyphae were also observed. As leaves became dormant, stained and pigmented hyphae and microsclerotia were increasingly evident. This study reveals the systemic association of dark septate fungi with aboveground tissues of B. eriopida.