VIEW ARTICLE

Special Topics

Spiroplasmalike Organisms in a Vesicular-Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungus and Its Mycoparasite. S. S. Tzean, Research fellow, Institute of Botany, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.; C. L. Chu(2), and H. J. Su(3). (2)Research assistant, Institute of Botany, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.; (3)Professor, Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. Phytopathology 73:989-991. Accepted for publication 3 January 1983. Copyright 1983 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-73-989.

Helical organisms, resembling spiroplasmas, were found in the cytoplasm of the vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus, Glomus sp., that had already been infected by a fungal hyperparasite, Phlyctochytrium kniepii. Similar entities were also found in the infection tubes, apophyses, and rhizoids of the associated P. kniepii. The organisms were cell wall-free, and showed regular wave form and helicity. In thin section a common form of the organisms was a curved cell (0.14- 0.16 μm wide and 0.4- 0.6 μm long), which might represent a section through the helix. The longest filaments were 3.75 μm long and 0.14- 0.16 μm wide. Attempts to cultivate the spiroplasmalike organisms in various cell-free media, however, have not been successful.