DANIELL, TIM, BECKY HUSBAND, ALISTAIR FITTER & PETER YOUNG.
Department of Biology, University of York, PO Box No 373, York, YO1 5YW, UK.
Our work is concerned with the diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in agricultural systems. We use molecular methods based on RFLP and sequence analysis of a PCR generated fragment of the fungal 18S ribosomal gene to produce information on the diversity present in our field sites. The PCR product is generated directly from DNA extracted from roots using a fungal specific primer. Fieldwork suggests that host preference exists between AM fungi and their host plants in our agricultural systems. This effect was particularly evident in winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) and spring pea (Pisum sativum) crops in which two different Glomus sequence types predominate including one which has an identical sequence to Glomus mosseae. We have set up a pot experiment, with soils from each of our field sites and using spring peas, winter wheat or plantain (Plantago lanceolata) as trap plants, to determine if this effect was indeed due to host preference or differences in planting times between the two crop species. Results from these experiments and data from further fieldwork will be presented.