The impact of heavy metal contamination on particular ectomycorrhizal fungi and associated plant hosts
J. VELEZ (1), J. Velez (1) (1) University of Tennessee Knoxville, U.S.A.

Agriculture has become a multifaceted industry as the production of biofuels and the need for both greater productivity and sustainability grows in importance.  However, there is a finite amount of land available, and a portion of this land is unusable due to the presence of major pollutants, such as heavy metal contaminants. As the demand for agricultural land rises, the viability of crops within soils that were previously considered unusable has become more appealing.  There is a possibility that with modifications to the rhizosphere, a plant species may be able to survive in conditions that would otherwise be toxic to the plant, increasing overall land availability for use in agriculture.  This would allow the planting of biofuel crops within fields that may not be optimized for the growth of crops intended for consumption due to soil contamination, thereby avoiding the “food-for-fuel” tradeoff that has driven agronomic policy concerns in the corn-based ethanol industry.  Wild strains of one species of fungus, Cenococcus geophilum, are being isolated and characterized for genetic analysis and mapping using the ezRAD method.  Three ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungus, C. geophilum, Laccaria bicolor and a Hebeloma sp., will be screened to determine their susceptibility to metal contaminants such as lead, strontium and copper, and then introduced to a Poplar host in order to monitor plant height, leaf number and total biomass.  This research will aim to lead to a greater understanding of the exchange that occurs within a plant-fungal system and determine if there is an increase in the overall hardiness of the plant when the fungal species are present and how this varies with the genetic makeup of the symbionts. Looking to the future, this research will impact the direction of biofuel crop production as knowledge of the plant-fungal relationship increases, as well as potentially open new land for agricultural development.

Abstract Number: P9-234
Session Type: Poster