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Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi may serve as another nutrient strategy for some hemiparasitic species of Pedicularis (Orobanchaceae)

Mycorrhiza volume 18, pages 429–436 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

As an important component of plant kingdom, parasitic plants have intrigued many scientists with their heterotrophic strategy. Numerous investigations have been carried out for a better understanding of interactions between parasitic plants and their hosts. Nevertheless, studies on parasitic plants from a mycorrhizal perspective are lacking, largely because of the notion that parasitic plants do not form mycorrhizal associations. Although long being regarded as nonmycorrhizal, some Pedicularis species are recently found to be heavily colonized by mycorrhizal fungi. Because the precise information about parasitism of Chinese Pedicularis has been lacking, we surveyed both the mycorrhizal status and parasitism of 29 Pedicularis species from the northwest of Yunnan Province, China, to test the hypothesis that some Pedicularis may be mycorrhizal and parasitic simultaneously. The majority of studied species were found to be parasitic as well as mycorrhizal. In some cases, parasitic organs and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) were detected in the same rootlets. The results suggest that some Pedicularis species may have another nutrient strategy (e.g., mycotrophy) besides being parasitic. Also, the findings indicate that host plants as well as AMF should be taken into account in cultivation of Pedicularis species.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Prof. Andrew Smith of the University of Adelaide for his kindly encouragement and critical reading of an earlier version of the manuscript. We are grateful to Prof. Marinus J. A. Werger of Utrecht University for his comments that greatly improved the manuscript. We thank the anonymous reviewers for their instructive comments and valuable suggestions that improved this manuscript. All remaining errors are solely the responsibility of the authors. The research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of P. R. China (Grant 30670207) and “Western Light” Talent Training Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences for the first author.

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  1. Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 134 Lan-Hei Road, Kunming, Yunnan, 650204, People’s Republic of China

    Ai-Rong Li & Kai-Yun Guan

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  1. Ai-Rong Li
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  2. Kai-Yun Guan
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Correspondence to Kai-Yun Guan.

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Li, AR., Guan, KY. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi may serve as another nutrient strategy for some hemiparasitic species of Pedicularis (Orobanchaceae). Mycorrhiza 18, 429–436 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-008-0196-z

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Keywords

  • Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF)
  • Haustoria
  • Nutrient strategy
  • Orobanchaceae
  • Root hemiparasites