Ic. Anderson et al., Intra- and interspecific variation in patterns of organic and inorganic nitrogen utilization by three Australian Pisolithus species, MYCOL RES, 103, 1999, pp. 1579-1587
The ability of three Australian Pisolithus species, discriminated on the ba
sis of ITS sequence data, to utilize a range of inorganic and organic nitro
gen sources was assessed in liquid axenic culture. Both intra-, and putativ
e interspecific, variation in nitrogen source utilization was observed. Mos
t isolates demonstrated a preference for NH4+ over NO3-, although some show
ed no significant preference for either inorganic source. All isolates util
ized a range of amino acids. Species I isolates demonstrated a preference f
or acidic and/or neutral amino acids over basic acids, while species II and
III isolates generally utilized amino acids poorly relative to species I.
Although most isolates utilized BSA poorly, two species I isolates that had
been maintained in axenic culture for > 10 y grew well on this substrate,
suggesting possible changes in nitrogen utilization with extended storage i
n axenic culture.