Visualizing and Analyzing the Growth of Dark Septate Fungi Within Plant Roots

Authors

Sophia McDade, Parkland College
Mac Johnson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Ilana Fay Zeitzer, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Anthony Yannarell, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

2025

Abstract

• Plants rely heavily on relationships between plant roots and root associated symbionts like bacteria and fungi
• Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can help plants take up nutrients and limit the uptake of heavy metals
• Previous AMF experimentation in lab led to observation of high quantities of dark septate fungi (DSF) in cold stored roots
• DSF are far less researched than AMF; have melanized and septate hyphae, found to colonize roots worldwide, but growth patterns and potential functions are not yet understood

Rights

Copyright is owned by the creators of this work.

Recommended Citation

McDade, Sophia; Johnson, Mac; Zeitzer, Ilana Fay; and Yannarell, Anthony, "Visualizing and Analyzing the Growth of Dark Septate Fungi Within Plant Roots" (2025). MICRO-CCS student projects. 20.
https://spark.parkland.edu/micro_ccs_student/20