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An improved method for extraction of soil fungal mycelium

Summary

Scientists developed an improved method to extract fungal threads (mycelium) from soil samples, which is important because fungi play key roles in nutrient cycling and carbon storage in forests. The new method is faster, cheaper, and simpler than previous approaches, reducing processing time significantly while avoiding chemicals that could interfere with DNA analysis. This allows researchers to better study which fungi live in soil and what roles they play in forest ecosystems.

Background

Fungal mycelium is a major component of soil microbiomes and plays crucial roles in carbon and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. However, extracting fungal mycelium from soil for taxonomical, chemical, and structural characterization has been challenging due to the lack of efficient, fast, and low-cost procedures.

Objective

To improve and test the Bingle and Paul method for soil fungal mycelium extraction by reducing processing time and eliminating chemical compounds that could impair DNA isolation and amplification in three different soil types.

Results

The improved method achieved approximately 50% extraction efficiency in clay soils and 23% in sandy soils, reducing filtration steps by five-fold and centrifugation time from 40 to 1 minute. Pre-removal of root fragments increased efficiency to over 65% across all soil types. DNA extraction and amplification were successful without chemical inhibitors.

Conclusion

The improved method provides a simple, efficient, and cost-effective procedure for extracting soil fungal mycelium from multiple samples simultaneously, enabling downstream DNA metabarcoding and chemical analyses for studying fungal communities and their ecological functions.
  • Published in:MethodsX,
  • Study Type:Method Development Study,
  • Source: PMID: 38023315, DOI: 10.1016/j.mex.2023.102477
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