An obligately endosymbiotic mycorrhizal fungus itself harbors obligately intracellular bacteria

Article Abstract:

A morphological and molecular study shows that the arbuscular-mycorrhizal fungus, Gigaspora margarita, harbors a large homogeneous population of a bacterial endosymbiont within its cytoplasm. The endosymbiont occurs at all stages of the fungal life-cycle. There are about 250,000 live bacteria in each fungal spore. The bacterial endosymbiont is an rRNA group II pseudomonad of the genus Burkholderia. They are viable, and multiply and travel from the spores to the root of the host fungus through the mycelium.

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Detection and identification of bacterial endosymbionts in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi belonging to the family Gigasporaceae

Article Abstract:

Research was conducted to determine whether bacteria in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal isolates are of common occurrence or sporadic in nature. Data reveal that out of 11 geographically distinct isolates examined, 10 harbored bacteria. The presence of bacteria is confirmed by polymerase chain reaction amplification of their DNA.

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Nitrogen fixation genes in an endosymbiotic Burkholderia strain

Article Abstract:

An analysis of the nitrogen fixation genes of the Burkholderia endosymbiont of the mycorrhizal fungus Gigaspora margarita show that this organism is closely related to Azospirillum brasilense. Three genes were identified that code for proteins similar to the nitrogenase from other diazotrophs.

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