Fine-scale spatial genetic structure of the black truffle (Tuber melanosporum) investigated with neutral microsatellites and functional mating type genes.

The genetic structure of ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal populations results from both vegetative and sexual propagation. In this study, we have analysed the spatial genetic structure of Tuber melanosporum populations, a heterothallic ascomycete that produces edible fruit bodies. Ectomycorrhizas from oaks and hazels from two orchards were mapped and genotyped using simple sequence repeat markers and the mating type locus.

Comparison of ectomycorrhizal communities in natural and cultivated Tuber melanosporum truffle grounds.

Truffles are hypogeous ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi belonging to the genus Tuber. Although outplanting of truffle-inoculated host plants has enabled the realization of productive orchards, truffle cultivation is not yet standardized. Therefore, monitoring the distribution of fungal species in different truffle fields may help us to elucidate the factors that shape microbial communities and influence the propagation and fruiting of Tuber spp.

Tuber melanosporum: mating type distribution in a natural plantation and dynamics of strains of different mating types on the roots of nursery-inoculated host plants.

• In light of the recent finding that Tuber melanosporum, the ectomycorrhizal ascomycete that produces the most highly prized black truffles, is a heterothallic species, we monitored the spatial distribution of strains with opposite mating types (MAT) in a natural truffle ground and followed strain dynamics in artificially inoculated host plants grown under controlled conditions. • In a natural truffle ground, ectomycorrhizas (ECMs), soil samples and fruit bodies were sampled and genotyped to determine mating types. Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were also used to fingerprint ECMs and fruit bodies.

Isolation and characterization of MAT genes in the symbiotic ascomycete Tuber melanosporum.

• The genome of Tuber melanosporum has recently been sequenced. Here, we used this information to identify genes involved in the reproductive processes of this edible fungus. The sequenced strain (Mel28) possesses only one of the two master genes required for mating, that is, the gene that codes for the high mobility group (HMG) transcription factor (MAT1-2-1), whereas it lacks the gene that codes for the protein containing the α-box- domain (MAT1-1-1), suggesting that this fungus is heterothallic.