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Utilisation of carbon substrates by orchid and ericoid mycorrhizal fungi from Australian dry sclerophyll forests

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Abstract

The utilisation of a range of cell-wall-related and aromatic carbon substrates by multiple genotypes of three ericoid mycorrhizal fungal taxa was compared with two orchid mycorrhizal fungal taxa. Both groups of fungi catabolised most common substrates, though significant inter- and intraspecific variability was observed in the use of a few carbon substrates. Orchid mycorrhizal fungi had limited access to tannic acid as a carbon source and did not use phenylalanine, while the ericoid mycorrhizal fungi used both. Utilisation of tryptophan was limited to single genotypes of each of the orchid mycorrhizal fungi, and to only two of the three ericoid mycorrhizal fungi examined. Although broadly similar, some significant differences apparently exist in carbon catabolism of ericoid and orchid mycorrhizal fungi from the same habitat. Functional and ecological implications of these observations are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge Mr. Endymion Cooper for his assistance in a pilot project with the OM fungi used in this study, and Dr. Andrew Perkins for allowing us access to his collection of orchid mycorrhizal fungi at the University of Sydney.

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  1. School of Biological Sciences, Macleay Building (A12), University of Sydney, 2006 NSW, Sydney, Australia

    David J. Midgley, Lyndon A. Jordan, Jennifer A. Saleeba & Peter A. McGee

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  1. David J. Midgley
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  2. Lyndon A. Jordan
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  3. Jennifer A. Saleeba
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  4. Peter A. McGee
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Correspondence to David J. Midgley.

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Midgley, D.J., Jordan, L.A., Saleeba, J.A. et al. Utilisation of carbon substrates by orchid and ericoid mycorrhizal fungi from Australian dry sclerophyll forests. Mycorrhiza 16, 175–182 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-005-0029-2

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