Effect of the mycorrhizal symbiosis time in the antioxidant activity of fungi and Pinus pinaster roots, stems and leaves

The ectomycorrhizal (ECM) symbiosis that develops between the roots of host trees and the soil ECM fungi is an important factor towards the survival, health and growth of these trees, as it stimulates their water and nutrient uptake. Ectomycorrhizal colonization can result in the deposition of phenolic compounds in peripheral cortex cells and a similar answer can be recognized as one way of plant defense against pathogenic infections. The aim of the present work was the evaluation of antioxidant potential of the ectomycorrhizal fungi, Paxillus involutus and Pisolithus arhizus, in presence and absence of the symbiont – Pinus pinaster – in response to the symbiotic association, under different contact periods (45 days and 48 h). Phenolic contents in mycelia, culture media and plant leaves, stems and roots were determined by Folin–Ciocalteu assay, and their antioxidant properties were evaluated by three in vitro assays: 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity, reducing power and lipid peroxidation inhibition through β-carotene bleaching inhibition. Comparing the response of the symbionts to the host species, P. pinaster benefited most with the association, because it generally decreases the phenolics content and the antioxidant activity values in the presence of both ectomycorrhizal fungi along time. P. arhizus also decreased, in general, its phenolics levels and antioxidant properties, alongside with P. pinaster, unlike P. involutus that did not have the same response as it increases its content of phenolics and some of its values of antioxidant activity. These results can be considered as an hypothetical signal of a symbiotic differential compatibility of mycorrhizal fungi for a host.

► Mycorrhizal symbiosis influences the antioxidant potential of the symbionts.
► The antioxidant activity of Pinus pinaster decreases in the presence of fungi.
► Ectomycorrhizal fungi could help in keeping their host trees.