VIEW ARTICLE

Symposium on Mycorrhizae and Plant Disease Research

Anatomy and Physiology of Vesicular-Arbuscular and Nonmycorrhizal Roots. D. E. Carling and M. F. Brown, Alaska Agricultural Experiment Station, Paimer 99645 and Department of Plant Pathology, University of Missouri, Columbia 65211, respectively. Phytopathology 72:1108-1114. Copyright 1982 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-72-1108.

The roots of most species of vascular plants except the Coniferales are extensively colonized by the ubiquitous soil- inhabiting fungi classified in the Endogonaceae. The species of primary concern are in the genera Glomus, Acaulospora, and Sclerocystis since they form endomycorrhizae characterized by the production of both vesicles and arbuscules (VA mycorrhizae) (1 6,35). Although Gigaspora spp. only rarely produce vesicles in infected roots, other aspects of the mycorrhizae they form are generally comparable to infections caused by the three previously indicated genera of VA fungi. However, since most VA mycorrhizal research has involved various Glomus spp., those observations are the primary bases for our current understanding of these associations.