Calcofluor-white Calcofluor-white Calcofluor-white is a special fluorescent stain that binds strongly to structures containing cellulose and chitin. In plant cell biology research, it is used for the staining of cell walls of both algae and higher plants. It is also useful in medicine and animal biology for the identification of fungi in the tissue, (it binds to the chitin in the cell walls of the fungi). In research, calcofluor-white is also used to stain bud scars of yeast cells because the bud scars have a higher content of chitin, which stains them more than the rest of the cell membrane. Due
Phospholipid-derived fatty acids are not significantly present in routine PLFA sample preparation which is designed to cleave ester-linked fatty acids. Arbuscular mycorrhizae fungi (AMF) penetrate the walls of cortical cells of about 80% of all vascular plant families, generating a symbiotic relationship. The fungi form membrane structures adjacent to the plant cell membrane allowing exchange of phosphorus, nitrogen compounds and minerals from the fungus and the plant provides the fungus primarily with photosynthesis-derived sugars. As the AMF are obligate symbiotic fungi, they are not free-living in the soil. The AMF hyphae in the root form lipid materials which then are transported to the