Is this fungus everywhere? Elucidating the genetic structure of populations of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus intraradices

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (Glomeromycota) are ubiquitous mutualistic associates of plants. Only relatively recently it has become possible to study the population biology of some species of these fungi. The model organism Glomus intraradices has been found across an extremely wide range of habitats and succession stages on different continents using molecular identification approaches. We used regions of the mitochondrially-encoded rDNA as novel molecular markers to resolve the intraspecies structure of G. intraradices and found a high diversity of mitochondrial haplotypes among isolates from all over the world. These markers for the first time also offer to genotype G. intraradices dire…