Fig. 3: Role of deadwood as a source of propagule to form mycorrhizal symbiosis on roots of living Quercus robur. | Communications Biology

Fig. 3: Role of deadwood as a source of propagule to form mycorrhizal symbiosis on roots of living Quercus robur.

From: Plasticity of symbiotroph-saprotroph lifestyles of Piloderma croceum associated with Quercus robur L.

Fig. 3

a Root dry weight (mean ± SE) and b plant growth parameters (stem, shoot, and total plant dry weight) (mean ± SE). C = control, CW = control with sterile complete oak wood, B = oak bark with P. croceum, W = oak deadwood with P. croceum, and M = oak and bark with P. croceum which formed yellow mycelium on oak root tips. Different letters indicated significant differences of the dry mass of roots and plant growth parameters according to one-way ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey’s HSD test at p < 0.05. c–h Microscopic analysis of oak roots in control and deadwood with P. croceum treatments. In contrast with the control, which did not show any fungal structures (c–e), mycelium of P. croceum was found to cover the root tips of oak (f) and the Hartig net was detectable in cross sections of paraffin-embedded root tips and stained with fluorescently labeled wheat germ agglutinin (g, h). Note the green fluorescence of outer mycelium (arrows) and Hartig net (arrowheads) in (h). Pictures were taken using a stereomicroscope (c, f), bright field (d, g), and fluorescence microscopy (e, h). Bars represent 500 µm in (c, f) and 50 µm in (d, e, g, h).

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