High specificity generally characterizes mycorrhizal association in rare lady's slipper orchids, genus Cypripedium

• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294x.2005.02424.x
• Publication Date: 2005-01-21T13:38:50Z
• Authors: RICHARD P. SHEFFE...; MICHAEL WEIß; TIIU KULL; D. LEE TAYLOR
• Keywords: Orchidaceae

Abstract Lady's slipper orchids ( Cypripedium spp.) are rare terrestrial plants that grow throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere. Like all orchids, they require mycorrhizal fungi for germination and seedling nutrition. The nutritional relationships of adult mycorrhizae unclear; however, distribution may be limited by specificity, whether this specificity occurs only during stage or carries on into adulthood. We attempted to identify primary symbionts 100 plants, successfully did so with two calceolus , 10 californicum six candidum 16 fasciculatum guttatum 12 montanum 11 parviflorum from a total 44 populations in Europe North America, yielding fungal nuclear large subunit mitochondrial sequence RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism) data 59 plants. Because orchid typically observed without fruiting structures, we assessed identity through direct PCR (polymerase chain reaction) amplification genes mycorrhizally colonized root tissue. Phylogenetic analysis revealed great majority members narrow clades within family Tulasnellaceae. Rarely occurring endophytes include Sebacinaceae, Ceratobasidiaceae, ascomycetous genus, Phialophora . C. was species apparently low as it associated tulasnelloid, ceratobasidioid, sebacinoid roughly equal proportion. Our results add support growing literature showing high is not nonphotosynthetic but also photosynthetic ones.