Revisiting the rDNA sequence diversity of a natural population of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Acaulospora colossica

Abstract

In 1999, the diversity of a field population of the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus Acaulospora colossica was characterized using DNA sequence data. Since 1999, AM fungal sequences have accumulated rapidly within public databases. Moreover, novel phylogenetic tools have been developed and can be used to interpret the data. A second analysis of those sequences collected in 1999 demonstrates that while the majority of the sequences are, in fact, sequences of A. colossica; a minority of the sequences still cannot be identified with confidence. Those sequences identified as A. colossica can be used to show that (1) the nuclear rDNA ITS regions are remarkably diverse, and (2) sequences isolated from different spores of the same site may be more closely related to each other than to sequences of other sites, so that the genetic diversity of an AM fungal field population may be spatially structured; however, identical sequences can also be recovered from different sites.