Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) colonization in roots of putative non-mycotrophic species has been known for decades, but our knowledge of AMF community structure in non-mycotrophic plants is limited. Here, we compared AMF species composition and diversity in roots of co-occurring mycotrophic and putative non-mycotrophic herbs in two wetlands. A SSU-ITS-LSU fragment in AMF rDNA was amplified, cloned and sequenced, and used to characterize the AMF community in the roots of 16 putative non-mycotrophic and 18 mycotrophic herbs. The results showed that AMF hyphae and vesicles, but not arbuscules, were commonly present in putative non-mycotrophic plants. A total of 971 AMF sequences were obtained, and these were finally assigned to 28 operational taxonomic units (OTUs). At both sites, AMF taxon richness and Hill number based on Shannon’s index in the putative non-mycotrophic herbs were similar to those for mycotrophic plants, but AMF community composition between mycotrophic and non-mycotrophic plants was significantly different. Ten AMF OTUs were uniquely detected in the putative non-mycotrophic species, and two were identified as the AMF indicators in non-mycotrophic plants. These results implied that non-mycotrophic plants may harbor a potential source of AMF diversity previously ignored which should be included in our understanding of diversity, distribution pattern, and ecological significance of root-colonizing AMF. As the first direct comparison of AMF diversity and species composition between mycotrophic and putative non-mycotrophic species in wetlands, our study has important implications for the understanding of AMF distribution patterns.

推定的非营养型物种在根中的丛枝菌根真菌（AMF）定植已有数十年的历史，但我们对非营养型植物中AMF群落结构的了解有限。在这里，我们比较了两个湿地中同时存在的自养营养和非自养营养草药的根系中AMF种类的组成和多样性。AMF rDNA中的SSU-ITS-LSU片段被扩增，克隆和测序，并用于表征16种假定的非营养型和18种营养型草药的根中的AMF群落。结果表明，推定的非分枝营养植物中普遍存在AMF菌丝和囊泡，而不是丛枝。总共获得了971个AMF序列，最后将它们分配给28个操作分类单位（OTU）。在两个站点上 假定的非营养型植物中基于Shannon指数的AMF分类群丰富度和Hill值与营养型植物相似，但营养型和非营养型植物之间的AMF群落组成显着不同。在推定的非营养型物种中唯一检测到十个AMF OTU，在非营养型植物中鉴定了两个AMF OTU。这些结果表明，非分枝营养植物可能具有以前被忽视的AMF多样性的潜在来源，应将其包括在我们对根定殖性AMF的多样性，分布模式和生态意义的理解中。作为对湿地的营养型和推定的非营养型物种之间AMF多样性和物种组成的直接比较，