| In Vitro Culture of Mycorrhizas 2005 Edition Contributor(s): Declerck, Stéphane (Editor), Strullu, Désiré-Georges (Editor), Fortin, André (Editor) |
|
 |
ISBN: 3540240276 ISBN-13: 9783540240273 Publisher: Springer OUR PRICE: $284.99 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: April 2005 Annotation: The technique of in vitro cultivation of root organs has been developed over the past few decades and opens up new ways of studying plant-fungi associations. It is a technical breakthrough, especially for the investigation of the ubiquitous arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, since these obligate symbionts rely on plant tissue. This is the first book describing this unique in vitro cultivation, which has markedly improved our general understanding of symbiosis. Presented by an international group of authors, including pioneers of this technique, it should encourage researchers to apply the method in further new studies on mycorrhizal fungi and plant-fungi interactions. Various biological aspects such as the physiology, biochemistry, biodiversity, and life cycles of fungi as well as the effects of symbiosis on plant growth and development are described, including large-scale fungus production for biotechnological use. Detailed protocols allow the immediate application of the method to culture mycorrhizal fungi in vitro. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Science | Life Sciences - Botany - Technology & Engineering | Agriculture - General - Science | Life Sciences - Ecology |
| Dewey: 579.517 |
| Series: Soil Biology |
| Physical Information: 1" H x 6" W x 9.1" (1.55 lbs) 392 pages |
| Themes: - Topical - Ecology |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The ?rst 30 cm of the earth's surface represents a fragile and valuable ecos- tem, thanks to which terrestrial plants, and indirectly animals and humans, can live. The microbial activity occurring in soil is largely responsible for its physical and nutritional quality. Among the micro-organisms living in soil, the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi play a major role. They are present in all types of soil, everywhere on the planet, living in symbiotic association with the roots of most plant species. They have co-evolved with plants for 400 million years, improving their nutrition and resistance to v- ious types of stress. Present practices in conventional agriculture, which introduce great amounts of chemicals, have eliminated or underexploited the AM symbiosis. The rational exploitation of AM fungi in sustainable agriculture, to help minimize the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, has been hampered by several biological characteristics of these mic- organisms: they cannot be grown in the absence of a plant host and their genetic structure is very complex. Despite these limitations, biologists have made important progress in understanding better the functioning of AM fungi. An in vitro technique has been developed using mycorrhizal root organ cultures, which made it possible to investigate the genetics, cell biology and physiology of AM fungi. We can now be objective enough to critically evaluate the impacts the in vitro technique has had to improve our knowledge on mycorrhizal symbiosis. |