• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.56-60
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• 2017

This study investigated the in vitro symbiotic seed germination of the achlorophyllous orchid, Gastrodia elata, using a new Mycena species. A leaf-disc ($2{\times}2cm$) of Quercus accutissima was inoculated with either of the two fungal species, NIFOS101 (NCBI accession number KY449288) or KFRI1212 (HQ662845), following which it was placed on water agar medium, prior to sowing seeds of G. elata. After 20 days of symbiotic culture, NIFOS101 and KFRI1212 germinated 94% and 70% of G. elata seeds, respectively, although the initiation of protocorm development was induced much earlier by KFRI 1212 than by NIFOS101. Furthermore, the NIFOS101 mycelia grew much faster than KFRI 1212 at all temperatures tested. A phylogenetic analysis using the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences showed that NIFOS101 belonged to a clade with M. purpureofusca, which completely differed from the clade with KFRI1212. This study not only identified a new fungal species, NIFOS101, which improved the rate of symbiotic seed germination up to 94% as compared to KFRI1212 (70%), but also revealed that G. elata required a broad taxonomic range of fungi for its symbiotic germination.