Sequence Analyses of PCR Amplified Partial SSU of Ribosomal DNA for Identifying Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in Plant Roots

ABSTRACT

The genomic DNAs were extracted from roots of Glycine max and Sorghum bicolor, and compared with those from spores of two arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, Glomus mosseae and Scutellospora heterogama. The partial small subunit (SSU) of ribosomal RNA genes were synthesized and amplified by polymerase chain reaction with the fungal specific primers, AM1 and NS31. By the recent molecular techniques, the presence of another AM fungal DNA were confirmed in the roots of two plants, and three sequences of rDNA fragments amplified were identified to be close to those of G. caledonium, G. fasiculatum and G. proliferum. The two AM fungi, both, were found to colonize at the cortical layers of plant roots collected in the fields, together.