Presentation Work
Presented by
Nurulhasan Khatri
SEM 1 M.Sc.(Botany) 2020-21
BOT 2101 UNIT IV :
Mycorrhizal Biotechnology
Subject : Acaulospora :
Classification and Characteristics
The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
Earlier classification of the AM fungi
First fungi in the genus Glomus were known only from clusters of
spores (so called sporocarps) found in the upper layers of soil (e.g.
Tulasne & Tulasne 1844, Thaxter 1922).
Barbara Mosse (UK) first showed experimentally Glomus mosseae, was
responsible for the mycorrhizal colonisation of strawberry roots(1953).
By analogy the AM fungi were placed with them in a single family, the
Endogonaceae (Zygomycota). One reason for including them in
Endogone was an observational error : a sporocarp was found with
spores of both Endogone and Glomus
A comprehensive review of the group was carried out (Gerdemann &
Trappe 1974), during which two new genera (Acaulospora and
Gigaspora) were erected within the Endogonaceae.
The fungi within this rather unnatural grouping were eventually
formally accommodated in their own order, the Endogonales, though
without further taxonomic clarification above genus level (Benjamin
1979).
A cladistic analysis, mainly of morphological features, produced a
‘species tree ’ with a new order, Glomerales containing two suborders
and three families (Morton & Benny 1990).
The separation of this order, based on a shared mode of nutrition, was
logical, the question of its position within the kingdom Fungi was not
considered. With the error of the ‘mixed sporocarp’ resolved
(Gerdemann & Trappe 1974) few, if any, morphological, anatomical,
cytological, or sexual characters substantiated its inclusion in the
Zygomycota, and the molecular evidence tells a different story.
Cavalier-Smith (1998) described with a brief Latin diagnosis the
Glomeromycetes, , as a new class within the Zygomycota, containing
the Glomerales (AM fungi) and Endogonales, ignoring already known
evidence regarding the relationships between these orders.
Novel classification of the AM fungi
Based on comprehensive SSU rRNA analyses, that the AM fungi can be separated in a
monophyletic clade, which is not related to any zygomycetous group but probably
shares common ancestry with the Ascomycota-Basidiomycota clade. Therefore, a
new, fungal phylum based on natural relationships for the arbuscular mycorrhizal
and related fungi, the Glomeromycota considered. (Schüßler, 2001)
Today, we accept 3 classes, 5 orders, 14 families, 29 genera and
approximately 230 species.
Basis of the identification of
Mycorrhizal Fungi :
Colonization patterns in roots(quite difficult way)
Hyphal branching patterns
The diameter & structure of hyphae(especially near entry
points)
Staining intensity of hyphae
Spore size, shape & abundance
Spore (morphology) Wall thickness and layers
Spore formation and position (Gigasporoid, Scutellosporoid
Glomoid, Acaulosporid, Entrophosporoid)
The way the spore is formed on the hypha (mode of spore
formation) has been important to circumscribe genera and
families, and the layer structure of the spore wall to
distinguish species
Molecular Phylogenetic Tools
Classification of Genus
Acaulospora (Oehl et
al.2008):
PHYLUM Glomeromycota
CLASS Glomeromycetes
ORDER Diversisporales
FAMILY Acaulosporacea
Genus Acaulospora
Phylum :
•Glomeromycota
Obligate symbiosis with embryophytes (except Geosiphon, which
form symbiosis with Nostoc
• Formation of arbuscules
• Non-septate hyphae
• Spore single or in cluster or in sporocarp
• Produce large spores (20-1000μm)
• Spores multilayered and multinucleate (very infrequent
recombination)
• Lack of sexual reproduction
• New symbioses formed from
1. fragments in the soil
2. spore germination near root
3.spread from neighbouring hosts
Class :
Glomeromycetes
• Mycorrhizal structures stain blue to dark blue in “typhan blue”.
Order:
Diversisporales
• Form intraradical vesicles
Family:
Acaulosporaceae
• Spore formation laterally or within the neck of terminal or
intercalary sporiferous saccules
• Triple-walled and the characteristic granular, “beaded” inner
wall surface of spore
Genus: Acaulospora
We know 37 Acaulosopra species .
Spore formation in Acaulospora :
In Greek, acaulospora means “spore without a
stem”
or sessile spores.
In this genus, spores are borne laterally from
the neck
of a pre-differentiated “sporiferous saccule” or
“vesicle” or “mother spore”.
(a) diagrammatic (b) microscopic
The genus includes spores which are formed
singly
and ectocarpically in the soil.
Acaulospora spore
Acaulospora with deep pits in the
bireticulata resting outer wall(arrows)
spore showing the and inner wall layers
Acaulospora spinosa resting network of the outer stained by Melzer’s
spore with the remains of the reticulum and the reagent
outer wall layer(o) covering the small pores within
spines and ridges which the inner reticulum
ornament the second wall layer
Entry point hyphae have characteristic
branching
patterns.
Hyphae in outer cortex generally are more
irregularly
branched, looped or coiled than for glomus.
Colonies in roots are often relatively small.
Thin-walled, non-persistent Intracellular “oil-
filled
“vesicles”, that are initially rectangular, but often
become irregularly lobed due to expansion into
adjacent cells, are characteristic feature.
irregularly Oil-filled vesicles
branched hypha
arbuscule
Diagram showing oil-
filled intracellular vesicles
Key to some Acaulospora
species (Oehl et al. 2006) :
Without ornamented outer spore wall …………………………Acaulospora laevis
With ornamented outer spore wall…………………………………..…1
1. Spores with depressions (pits) or cerebriforme folds
1a. Spores with pits……………………………………………….….2
1b. Spores with cerebriforme folds………………………………………A. rehmii
2. Spores formed singly in soil, not in sporocarps…3
3a. Pits of regular round shape………………………...4
3b. Pits of irregular shape……………….A. scrobiculata, A.lacunosa
4a. Spores with regular round pits, spores regularly <100 µm
diameter………………………………………………..5
4b. Spores with regular round pits, spores regularly >100 µm
diameter............................................................A. foveata
5a. Spores hyaline, sub hyaline…………....6
5b. Spores yellow to Orange brown………………….A.
alpina
6a. Spore hyaline to sub hyaline, concave round pits
of widest diameter < 3.5 µm……………....A.
pauline
6b. Spore hyaline to sub hyaline, concave round pits
of widest diameter > 3.5 µm……………..A. undulata
Some Acaulospora species
& their spore wall structure
:
I. A. bireticulata J. With polygonal reticulation
K. A. gerdemannii L. alveolate wall layer
M. A.rehmii N. With different wall layers
How Acaulospora
Differentiate from
other common genera of AM
Contrary
fungi : to Glomus and Sclerocystis, spores of
Acaulospora do not formed on simple hypha
In Sclerocystis sporocarp present while in
Acaulospora its absence
In Gigaspora and Scutellospora spore
produced on swollen tips, in Acaulospora
laterally Germination shield
Swollen tip
Swollen tip
Gigasopre Scutellospore
Simple subtending
hypha
Glomoid spore Sporocarp
Entrophospore (form
within hypha)
References :
1. A monograph of Acaulospora spp. (VAM fungi) in sunflower
rhizosphere in Haryana, India (Article in Helia January∙2009)
2. Advances in Glomeromycota taxonomy and classification
(Article in IMA Fungus December ∙2011)
3. https://mycorrhizas.info/vam.html
4. VA Mycorrhiza- Conway Ll. Powell, Ph.D.
5. Handbook of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi- Tancredo Souza
6. https://sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-bilogical-
sciences/acaulospora
7. A new fungal phylum, the Glomeromycota: phylogeny and
evolution (Article in The British Mycological Society 2001)
