Book of Abstracts (PDF) - International Mycological Association

IMC7 Friday August 16th Lectures
446 - Biolistic transformation of AM fungi: Advances
and perspectives
R. Bergero 1 , A. Gollotte 2 , P. Mutch 1 , D. Walsh 1 & L.A.
Harrier 1*
1 Scottish Agricultural College, Kings Buildings, West
Mains Road, Edinburgh, Lothian, Scotland, U.K. - 2 UMR
BBCE-IPM 1088, INRA/CMSE, BP 86510, 21065 Dijon
Cedex, France. - E-mail: l.harrier@ed.sac.ac.uk
Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi of the unique phylum
Glomeromycetes are ubiquitous in nature and constitute an
integral component of terrestrial ecosystems, forming
symbiotic associations with plant root systems of over 80%
of all terrestrial plant species. Understanding the root
interactions of AM fungi is one of the most challenging
and exciting areas of research. The development of
transformation strategies for AM fungi has provided a great
opportunity for the enhancement of our understanding of
the biology of AM fungi but also for the interactions
between plant roots and the surrounding soil environment.
In this presentation we discuss the development of
transformation strategies for AM fungi by biolistics and
highlight the areas of this technology which are being
further developed for the stable transformation of these
elusive organisms. These include the use of genetic
reporters, vector construction and transgene persistence.
We thank the Scottish Executive Environmental Rural
Affairs Division (SEERAD) and the EU (Project
GENOMYCA QLRT-2000-01319) for financial support.
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Book of Abstracts