Amino acid uptake in arbuscular mycorrhizal plants.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 23094070.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0047643 and PMC identifier PMC3871874.
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Abstract
We examined the extent to which arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi root improved the acquisition of simple organic nitrogen (ON) compounds by their host plants. In a greenhouse-based study, we used quantum dots (fluorescent nanoparticles) to assess uptake of each of the 20 proteinaceous amino acids by AM-colonized versus uncolonized plants. We found that AM colonization increased uptake of phenylalanine, lysine, asparagine, arginine, histidine, methionine, tryptophan, and cysteine; and reduced uptake of aspartic acid. Arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization had the greatest effect on uptake of amino acids that are relatively rare in proteins. In addition, AM fungi facilitated uptake of neutral and positively-charged amino acids more than negatively-charged amino acids. Overall, the AM fungi used in this study appeared to improve access by plants to a number of amino acids, but not necessarily those that are common or negatively-charged.