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1 EEZ, CSIC, Granada, Granada, Spain
2 EEZ, CSIC, Granada, Spain/Granada
3 EEZ, CSIC, Granada, Spain/Granada, 18008, Spain
4 Ecological Farming Systems, Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Research Station ART, Reckenholzstrasse 191, Zurich, Zürich, 8046, Switzerland
A new fungal species in the arbuscular mycorrhiza-forming Glomeromycetes, Entrophospora nevadensis, was isolated from soil near the roots of several endemic and endangered plant species (e.g. Plantago nivalis and Alchemilla fontqueri) growing in the Sierra Nevada Nacional Park (Granada, Andalucía, Spain). The fungus was propagated in trap cultures on Plantago nivalis and Sorbus hybrida and in pure cultures on Trifolium pratense and Sorghum vulgare. Spores are yellow brown to brown, 90-115 µm diam and form singly in soil, in the neck of adherent sporiferous saccules that form either terminally or intercalary on mycelial hyphae. Spores have two three-layered walls and conspicuous, 6-12 µm long, spiny, thorn-like projections on the outer wall consisting of hyaline to subhyaline, evanescent tips and yellow brown to brown, persistent bases. In aging spores these projections are usually shorter (1-2.8 µm) and dome-shaped or rounded, sometimes with a central pit on top where the evanescent tip has sloughed off. Molecular analysis using partial sequences of the 18S ribosomal gene places the fungus within the Diversisporales. The new fungus was found in soil close to plants of quite different life styles, but growing in high altitude soils with acidic pH, high soil moisture and organic carbon content, and close to streams.
Key words: arbuscular mycorrhiza, endangered plant species, endemism, Glomeromycota, Entrophosporaceae
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