Asymbiotic Growth of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi.

The development of asymbiotic culture methods for arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi is crucial for studying their symbiotic mechanisms and developing new inoculants. AM fungi lack genes encoding cytosolic fatty acid synthases, and thus require plant-derived lipids for their propagation. Certain fatty acids, such as myristate, can promote their mycelial growth and sporulation without a host plant. In this chapter, we describe detailed methods for asymbiotic culture using fatty acids and strigolactone.