Figure 3.

C. tofieldiae Promotes Plant Growth in Low Phosphate Conditions

(A) Number of siliques produced by A. thaliana growing in vermiculite. Plants grown with Ct had significantly more siliques than those grown without C. tofieldiae (Ct) (t test, p < 0.01).

(B) A representative image of A. thaliana plants grown in low phosphate (Pi) conditions with and without Ct. Seven-day-old plants were inoculated with Ct or water and grown in low Pi MS medium for 18 days.

(C) Shoot fresh weight (SFW) of plants incubated with beneficial Ct or pathogenic C. incanum (Ci) in high or low Pi conditions. A. thaliana Col-0 seeds were inoculated with Ct, heat-killed Ct or Ci, or water (mock), and SFW was determined 24 days later (15 plants per experiment). The boxplot shows combined data from three independent experiments. Different letters indicate significantly different statistical groups (Tukey-HSD, p < 0.01).

(D) Translocation of ³³P-labeled orthophosphate from Ct to A. thaliana shoots. Col-0 plants were grown on low Pi medium without (mock, n = 26) or with Ct (n = 37) or Ci (n = 36) or on high Pi medium without (mock, n = 27) or with Ct (n = 35) in a two-compartment system (cartoon). ³³P was added to the hyphal compartment (HC) and after 17 days ³³P -incorporation into shoots was measured by scintillation counting. Columns represent counts in kBq ³³P /g dry weight (DW) of individual plants. The dotted line shows the median level of ³³P background counts from mock inoculations. RHC, root hyphal compartment.

See also Figure S3.