Taxon-specific PCR primers to detect two inconspicuous arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi from temperate agricultural grassland

Taxon-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers enable detection of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF, Glomeromycota) in plant roots where the fungi lack discriminative morphological and biochemical characters. We designed and validated pairs of new PCR primers targeted to the flanking regions of the variable domain 1 of the nuclear ribosomal large subunit RNA gene to specifically detect Acaulospora paulinae and an undescribed member of the Diversisporaceae. These two fungal taxa, sporulating late in soil-trap cultures and showing small, faintly coloured spores and weakly staining intraradical structures, were frequently found in roots of Trifolium repens from a high-input agricultural grassland. The newly developed PCR primers may thus enable studies on two inconspicuous AMF taxa that appear to have been overlooked in previous molecular AMF community analyses and for which no specific PCR primers have been published.