Quantitative PCR for measuring biomass of decomposer fungi in planta》.pdf

f u n g a l e c o l o g y 7 ( 2 0 1 4 ) 3 9 e4 6 available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.else /locate/funeco Quantitative PCR for measuring biomass of decomposer fungi in planta a c c,d Zewei SONG , Andrew VAIL , M.J. SADOWSKY , Jonathan S. SCHILLING a,b,* aDepartment of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA bInstitute on the Environment, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA cBioTechnology Institute, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA dDepartment of Soil, Water, and Climate, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: The biomass of brown and white rot fungi were estimated using ergosterol and quantita- Received 14 June 2013 tive PCR (qPCR). Each biomass estimate was compared with biomass measured gravi- Revision received 1 December 2013 metrically from liquid cultures, as well as from three wood substrata at two decay stages. Accepted 6 December 2013 Fungal morphological changes in two different substrata, agar and pine, were measured Available online 9 January 2014 using a chitin-specific fluorophore and confocal microscopy. In liquid culture, the two Corresponding editor: fungal isolates had significantly different biomass conversion factors for both methods. In Petr Baldrian wood colonized for 3 wks, qPCR yielded a lower estimate than did