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The European delicacy Tuber melanosporum forms mycorrhizae with some indigenous Chinese Quercus species and promotes growth of the oak seedlings

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Abstract

We aimed to test whether Tuber melanosporum and native Chinese oak species could form stable mycorrhizal symbioses. Six oak species were all either inoculated or not, with spores of the Périgord black truffle in the greenhouse. Ectomycorrhizal development was monitored for up to 32 months. Seedling growth was assessed 2 years after inoculation. From 6 months after inoculation, Tuber melanosporum ectomycorrhizae were successfully produced on five Quercus species endemic to China, as shown by morphological, anatomical, and molecular analyses. Quercus mongolica and Q. longispica showed high receptivity to mycorrhization by T. melanosporum. The symbioses obtained with these two species and with Quercus senescens were stable for at least 32 months. Averaged over all three oak species, mycorrhization by T. melanosporum significantly enhanced canopy diameter, number of leaves, and mean leaf dimension. In spring 2019, mycorrhization by T. melanosporum accelerated budbreak in Q. mongolica. Quercus fabrei and Q. variabilis formed ectomycorrhizae up to 9 months after inoculation but seedlings died 3 months later, probably because of damage by grazing insects. Quercus pseudosemecarpifolia failed to form ectomycorrhizae. Results suggest that T. melanosporum–mycorrhized Q. mongolica and Q. longispica seedlings could be tested for ascocarp production and increased performance in the field.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Wang Yun, who made possible the collaboration between The Kunming Institute of Botany (KIB) and The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited, and to Wayne Tewnion and his dog Cassie for the supply of Tuber melanosporum truffles from his truffière in New Zealand. For the freezing microtome section, thanks to the Biotechnology experimental center of KIB.

Funding

This work was financially supported by the following projects: National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2017YFC0505206), Science and Technology Service Network Initiative, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2017), Guizhou Science and Technology Program (NO. 4002, 2018), and visiting professorship awarded to Alexis Guerin-Laguette under the Yunling High-End Foreign Experts Project.

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  1. Ran Wang and Alexis Guerin-Laguette contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 132 Lanhei Road, Kunming, Yunnan, 650201, People’s Republic of China

    Ran Wang, Alexis Guerin-Laguette, Lan-Lan Huang & Fu-Qiang Yu

  2. SWFU-KIB CAS Joint Institute for Applied Mycology, Kunming, 650224, Yunnan, China

    Ran Wang, Lan-Lan Huang & Fu-Qiang Yu

  3. Department of Crop and Forest Science, University of Lleida, Av. Alcalde Rovira Roure, 191, 25198, Lleida, Spain

    Ran Wang

  4. The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited, Gerald Street, Lincoln, 7608, New Zealand

    Alexis Guerin-Laguette & Ruth Butler

  5. Visiting Scientist, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China

    Alexis Guerin-Laguette

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  1. Ran Wang
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Wang, R., Guerin-Laguette, A., Butler, R. et al. The European delicacy Tuber melanosporum forms mycorrhizae with some indigenous Chinese Quercus species and promotes growth of the oak seedlings. Mycorrhiza 29, 649–661 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-019-00925-y

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