DNA CLONING AND SCREENING OF A PARTIAL GENOMIC LIBRARY FROM AN ARBUSCULAR MYCORRHIZAL FUNGUS, SCUTELLOSPORA-CASTANEA

A technique has been developed to efficiently extract purified, restri ctable genomic DNA from spores of different arbuscular mycorrhizal fun gi in order to begin detailed investigations of the genome of the Glom ales. The protocol yielded variable amounts of DNA depending on the fu ngal species; for Scutellospora castanea and Gigaspora rosea it reache d values of 1.5-2 ng/spore. EcoRI digests of DNA from S. castanea were cloned into pUC18 and about 1000 recombinant DNA clones were obtained . Of those screened, 50 contained inserts of 500-7000 bp. Selected ins erts detected DNA sequences from S. castanea spores or roots infected by this fungus, but not from nonmycorrhizal roots. This is the first r eport of a partial genomic library from an arbuscular mycorrhizal fung us.