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Symbiont identity matters: carbon and phosphorus fluxes between Medicago truncatula and different arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

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Abstract

Many studies have scrutinized the nutritional benefits of arbuscular mycorrhizal associations to their host plants, while the carbon (C) balance of the symbiosis has often been neglected. Here, we present quantification of both the C costs and the phosphorus (P) uptake benefits of mycorrhizal association between barrel medic (Medicago truncatula) and three arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal species, namely Glomus intraradices, Glomus claroideum, and Gigaspora margarita. Plant growth, P uptake and C allocation were assessed 7 weeks after sowing by comparing inoculated plants with their non-mycorrhizal counterparts, supplemented with different amounts of P. Isotope tracing (33P and 13C) was used to quantify both the mycorrhizal benefits and the costs, respectively. G. intraradices supported greatest plant P acquisition and incurred high C costs, which lead to similar plant growth benefits as inoculation with G. claroideum, which was less efficient in supporting plant P acquisition, but also required less C. G. margarita imposed large C requirement on the host plant and provided negligible P uptake benefits. However, it did not significantly reduce plant growth due to sink strength stimulation of plant photosynthesis. A simple experimental system such as the one established here should allow quantification of mycorrhizal costs and benefits routinely on a large number of experimental units. This is necessary for rapid progress in assessment of C fluxes between the plants and different mycorrhizal fungi or fungal communities, and for understanding the dynamics between mutualism and parasitism in mycorrhizal symbioses.

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Notes

  1. Since the open path CO2/H2O analyzer does not measure 12CO2 and 13CO2 with the same efficiency, this number is only providing a crude estimate of the CO2 concentration in the chamber atmosphere, and was not used in any calculations.

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Acknowledgments

We are indebted to Nina Buchmann who enabled us to carry out the carbon isotope composition measurements in her group, and to Annika Lenz for her excellent support at the IRMS. We are very thankful for lab support by Thomas Flura, Ariane Keller, and Cornelia Bühlmann. Funding by the Research Commission of ETH Zurich (project 14/05-3) is gratefully acknowledged. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for constructive criticism, which resulted in improving clarity and quality of the manuscript, and to Angela Erb for the final language check.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ETH Zurich, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Plant Nutrition Group, Eschikon 33, 8315, Lindau, Switzerland

    Mark Lendenmann, Cécile Thonar, Emmanuel Frossard & Jan Jansa

  2. TSBF-CIAT, Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Institute, c/o ICRAF, UN Avenue, Gigiri, PO Box 30677–00100, Nairobi, Kenya

    Cécile Thonar

  3. ETH Zurich, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Grassland Science Group, Universitätstrasse 2, 8092, Zürich, Switzerland

    Romain L. Barnard, Yann Salmon & Roland A. Werner

  4. Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, 137 Mulford Hall, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Romain L. Barnard

  5. Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland

    Yann Salmon

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  1. Mark Lendenmann
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  2. Cécile Thonar
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Correspondence to Jan Jansa.

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Lendenmann, M., Thonar, C., Barnard, R.L. et al. Symbiont identity matters: carbon and phosphorus fluxes between Medicago truncatula and different arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Mycorrhiza 21, 689–702 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-011-0371-5

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