The Absence of Soil-dwelling Microflora will Decrease the Fitness of Arabidopsis thaliana in Presence of Opportunistic Fungus such as Penicillium spp.

Abstract

To support this claim, A. thaliana strain Col-0, was grown in either autoclaved or non-autoclaved soil and in the presence or absence of Penicillium spp. The Penicillium spp. was utilized into a cultural suspension and sprayed at the base of stems of treatments 1 and 3. The culture suspension proved relatively ineffective for the infection of healthy mature plants. However, the suspension did have a minimal effect on young still-developing plants. Autoclaved treatment had a higher mortality rate on juvenile plants than non-autoclaved treatment when suspension was applied. Illustrating that young vascular plants are more susceptible to fungal infection than mature plants.