Mycorrhizal status and diversity of fungal endophytes in roots of common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) and tartary buckwheat (F. tataricum)

To determine the mycorrhizal status and to identify the fungi colonising the roots of the plants, common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) and tartary buckwheat (F. tataricum) were inoculated with an indigenous fungal mixture from a buckwheat field. Root colonisation was characterised by the hyphae and distinct microsclerotia of dark septate endophytes, with occasional arbuscules and vesicles of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Sequences of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi colonising tartary buckwheat clustered close to the Glomus species group A. Sequences with similarity to the Ceratobasidium/Rhizoctonia complex, a putative dark septate endophyte fungus, were amplified from the roots of both common and tartary buckwheat. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of arbuscular mycorrhizal colonisation in tartary buckwheat and the first molecular characterisation of these fungi that can colonise both of these economically important plant species.