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Low allelochemical concentrations detected in garlic mustard-invaded forest soils inhibit fungal growth and AMF spore germination

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Abstract

Garlic mustard’s (Alliaria petiolata, Brassicaceae) invasive success is attributed in part to its release of allyl isothiocyanate (AITC) into the soil. AITC can disrupt beneficial arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) associated with native plant roots, which limits their soil resource uptake. However, AITC and its precursor, sinigrin, have never been detected in garlic mustard-invaded forest soils. Here, we use high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS) to assess the concentration and bioactivity of these putative allelochemicals in paired forest plots uninvaded or invaded by garlic mustard. Our methods detected AITC and sinigrin only where garlic mustard was present and our recovery of AITC/sinigrin coincided with adult senescence. A bioassay of in situ fungal hyphae abundance revealed significantly reduced hyphal abundance in the presence of garlic mustard relative to uninvaded soils. Finally, the lowest concentration of AITC measured in the field (~0.001 mM) is highly inhibitory to the spore germination of a forest AMF species, Glomus clarum. Together, our data provide the first direct evidence of garlic mustard-produced sinigrin and AITC in forest soils and demonstrate that even low levels of these chemicals have the potential to significantly suppress AMF growth and spore germination, strengthening their status as allelopathic novel weapons.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the National Science Foundation for award DEB 0958676 to SK, University of Pittsburgh Startup Grant to MBT, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Garden Botany-in-Action Fellowship and a Mellon Fellowship to AH, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for support of AC and JA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium Research Scholarship for funding to AC, W. Saunders for incubator space, J. Williams at the University of Pittsburgh’s GC–MS lab for assistance with sample analysis, J. Hale at the University of Pittsburgh Department of Chemistry for advice on analytical chemistry methods, J.L. Dunn for lab and field assistance, J. Morton of INVAM and W.D. Holtzclaw of Johns Hopkins University for advice, T. H. Nguyen and T. Korpar for field assistance in the soil membrane experiment, and the Borough of Fox Chapel for permission to conduct experimental work at Trillium Trail. We thank two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions.

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  1. Department of Biological Sciences, 4249 Fifth Avenue, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA

    Aaron Cantor, Alison Hale, Justin Aaron, M. Brian Traw & Susan Kalisz

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  1. Aaron Cantor
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  2. Alison Hale
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Correspondence to Susan Kalisz.

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Aaron Cantor and Alison Hale are contributed equally.

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Cantor, A., Hale, A., Aaron, J. et al. Low allelochemical concentrations detected in garlic mustard-invaded forest soils inhibit fungal growth and AMF spore germination. Biol Invasions 13, 3015–3025 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-011-9986-x

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