Accumulation of sesquiterpenoid cyclohexenone derivatives induced by an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus in members of the Poaceae

Sixty one members of the Poaceae, including various cereals, were grown in defined nutrient media with and without the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus, Glomus intraradices Schenk & Smith. The roots of all species investigated were colonized by the AM fungus, however, to different degrees and independent of their systematic position. High-performance liquid chromatographic analyses of methanolic extracts from the roots of mycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal species revealed dramatic changes in the patterns of UV-detectable products along with a widespread occurrence of AM-fungus-induced accumulation of sesquiterpenoid cyclohexenone derivatives. The latter occur most often in the tribes Poeae, Triticeae and Aveneae. Some additional control experiments on plant infection with pathogens (Gaeumannomyces graminis) and Drechslera sp.) or an endophyte (Fusarium sp.), as well as application of abiotic stress, proved that the metabolism of these terpenoids is part of a response pattern of many gramineous roots in their specific reaction to AM fungal colonization. Received: 23 October 1996 / Accepted 11 December 1996