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The ectomycorrhizal fungus Tricholoma matsutake is a facultative saprotroph in vitro

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Abstract

Tricholoma matsutake is an economically important ectomycorrhizal fungus of coniferous woodlands. Mycologists suspect that this fungus is also capable of saprotrophic feeding. In order to evaluate this hypothesis, enzyme and chemical assays were performed in the field and laboratory. From a natural population of T. matsutake in southern Finland, samples of soil–mycelium aggregate (shiro) were taken from sites of sporocarp formation and nearby control (PCR-negative) spots. Soil organic carbon and activity rates of hemicellulolytic enzymes were measured. The productivity of T. matsutake was related to the amount of utilizable organic carbon in the shiro, where the activity of xylosidase was significantly higher than in the control sample. In the laboratory, sterile pieces of bark from the roots of Scots pine were inoculated with T. matsutake and the activity rates of two hemicellulolytic enzymes (xylosidase and glucuronidase) were assayed. Furthermore, a liquid culture system showed how T. matsutake can utilize hemicellulose as its sole carbon source. Results linked and quantified the general relationship between enzymes secreted by T. matsutake and the degradation of hemicellulose. Our findings suggest that T. matsutake lives mainly as an ectomycorrhizal symbiont but can also feed as a saprotroph. A flexible trophic ecology confers T. matsutake with a clear advantage in a heterogeneous environment and during sporocarp formation.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Toyahiro Miyazawa for help in soil sampling, Sonia Sarsila for media preparation, Satu Repo and Toni Malinen for chemical analysis, Michael Hardman for revising the English, and Anne Siika for help with the illustration. This research was supported by the Foundation for Research of Natural Resources in Finland and by the Academy of Finland (project number 1212915 and 130984 to Jussi Heinonsalo).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Finnish Forest Research Institute, PL 18, FI-01301, Vantaa, Finland

    Lu-Min Vaario, Peter Spetz, Taina Pennanen, Arja Tervahauta & Hannu Fritze

  2. Department of Food and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 56, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Jussi Heinonsalo

  3. Finnish Forest Research Institute, PL 68, FI-80101, Joensuu, Finland

    Jaakko Heinonen

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  1. Lu-Min Vaario
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Correspondence to Lu-Min Vaario.

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Vaario, LM., Heinonsalo, J., Spetz, P. et al. The ectomycorrhizal fungus Tricholoma matsutake is a facultative saprotroph in vitro. Mycorrhiza 22, 409–418 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-011-0416-9

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