Glomalin: characteristics, production, limitations and contribution to soils
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5433/1679-0359.2012v33n6Supl1p3033Keywords:
Protein, Mycorrhizal, Agroecosystems.Abstract
Glomalin is a hydrophobic, heat-stable, and recalcitrant glycoprotein produced by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. The glomalin is extracted from the hyphae or from the soil through the use of sodium citrate (20-50 mM; pH 7.0 or 8.0) at high temperature (121 °C) and is quantified by ELISA or Bradford methods. Soil characteristics, climatic conditions, land use systems, agricultural practices, presence and type of vegetation, among other factors, influence the amount of glomalin produced by AMF. The ‘glue’ property of glomalin helps to fixate soil particles, favoring the formation of stable aggregates. Glomalin sequesters heavy metals, reducing the availability and the risk of toxicity of these elements for organisms and plants grown in polluted soils. Depending on the extraction procedure and the origin of the soil, between 28 to 45% dry weight of the glomalin molecule is carbon and 0.9 to 7.3% is nitrogen, representing up to 4 to 5% of total C and N of the soil. Despite the important contribution of glomalin, studies are needed to reformulate the extraction protocol and to identify its physiological function for the AMF, their stocks in different ecosystems, the organisms responsible for its decomposition and consumption, and the AMF species producing more of this protein in the soil.
Downloads
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Semina: Ciências Agrárias adopts the CC-BY-NC license for its publications, the copyright being held by the author, in cases of republication we recommend that authors indicate first publication in this journal.
This license allows you to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, remix, transform and develop the material, as long as it is not for commercial purposes. And due credit must be given to the creator.
The opinions expressed by the authors of the articles are their sole responsibility.
The magazine reserves the right to make normative, orthographic and grammatical changes to the originals in order to maintain the cultured standard of the language and the credibility of the vehicle. However, it will respect the writing style of the authors. Changes, corrections or suggestions of a conceptual nature will be sent to the authors when necessary.
