Identification of symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in Korea by morphological and DNA sequencing features of their spores

In order to clarify the diversity of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, 9 individual plant roots and soils were randomly chosen at 27 sites in the general cultivation fields in the Chungbuk- and Chungnam-provinces, middle parts of Korea. In terms of height growth of Sorghum bicolor, the soil in Cheongwon site (host plant Fagopyrum esculentum) resulted in the best growth, and the order of growth was Platycodon grandiflorus, Miscanthus sinensis, Sesamum indicum, and Capsicum annuum. It represents that AM fungi species are having host-specific differences. Concerned to AM fungi colonization of host plant, Sorghum bicolor, AM fungi colonization in the roots was an increasing colonization tendency with the increase of culture periods. At the initial culture stage, colonization upto 10 days was rather slow, and afterwards the rates were increased. This colonization increase has leveled off more than 40 days culture. In addition, both morphology-based and molecular approaches of the spores from various soils of Chungbuk- and Chungnam- provinces in Korea were applied to characterize the AM fungi. By following these approaches, in Chungbuk province, total 9 species of 6 genera, such as 3 species of Glomus, 1 species of Paraglomus, 1 species of Gigaspora, 2 species of Scutellospora, 1 species of Acaulospora, and 1 species of Archaeospora, were identified. In Chungnam province, total 6 species of 5 genera, such as 2 species of Gigaspora, 1 species of Glomus, 1 species of Scutellospora, 1 species of Acaulospora, and 1 species of Archaeospora, were confirmed.