The effect of flavones and flavonols on colonization of tomato plants by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi of the genera Gigaspora and Glomus

JOSE M. SCERVINO1, HORST VIERHEILIG3, JUAN A. OCAMPO4 AND ALICIA GODEAS1; M. A. PONCE; R. ERRA BALSELLS; J. BOMPADRE; HORST VIERHEILIG; J. A. OCAMPO; A. GODEAS

CANADIAN JOURNAL OF MICROBIOLOGY

NCR Research Press

Lugar: Otawa; Año: 2007 vol. 53 p. 702 - 709

0008-4166

The effect of flavones and flavonols on colonization of tomato plants by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi of the genera Gigaspora and Glomus Jose M. Scervino1, María A. Ponce2, Rosa Erra-Bassells 2, Josefina Bompadre1, Horst Vierheilig3, Juan A. Ocampo4 and Alicia Godeas1 1 Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Pabellón II, 4P Ciudad Universitaria, (1428) Buenos Aires, Argentina 2 CIHIDECAR-CONICET, Departamento de Química Orgánica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Pabellón II, 3P Ciudad Universitaria, (1428) Buenos Aires, Argentina 3 Department für Angewandte Pflanzenwissenschaften und Pflanzenbiotechnologie, Institut für Pflanzenschutz, Universität für Bodenkultur Wien (A-1190) Vienna, Austria 4 Departamento de Microbiología, Estación Experimental de Zaidin, CSIC, (18008) Granada, España. Abstract No clear data are available how flavonoids from different chemical groups affect root colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and whether flavonoids affecting the pre-symbiotic growth of AMF also affect root colonization by AMF. In the present work we compared the effect of flavones (chrysin, luteolin) and flavonols (kaempferol, morin, isorhamnetin and rutin) on root colonization (number of entry points and degree of root colonization) of tomato plants (Lycopersicum esculentum L.) with the effect of these flavonoids on the pre-symbiotic growth of these AMF which has been reported in a recent study (Scervino et al. 2005a). With all tested AMF (Gigaspora rosea, Gi. margarita, Glomus mosseae or G. intraradices) a correlation between the number of entry points and the percentage of root colonization was found. When the number of entry points was high, root colonization was also enhanced. Application of the flavones chrysin and luteolin and of the flavonol morin increased the number of entry points and the degree of colonization,whereas the flavonols kaempferol, isorhamnetin and rutin showed no effect. These results show that in contrast to their effect on the pre-symbiotic growth of the AMF (Scervino et al. 2005a), on the level of root colonization the tested flavonoids do not exhibit a genus- and species- specificity. Moreover, comparing our data with the data obtained by Scervino et al. (2005a) indicates that a positive effect on the hyphal growth of AMF not necessarily results in an enhanced AM root colonization, indicating that the mode of action of flavonoids at the level of root colonization is more complex. Keywords: Arbuscular mycorrhiza, flavonoids, flavones, flavonols, signal molecules, symbiosis