Diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in antimony and arsenic contaminated areas

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are an important microorganism in the element transfer and transformation in plant-soil system, and it has widely proved to improve plant tolerance to heavy metals. In this work, we (1) determined the AMF community composition in a typical Sb- and As-contaminated soils and screened the dominant AMF, which can be applied to the ecological remediation of Sb- and As-polluted soil; (2) analyzed the correlations between AMF colonization rates of host plants, AMF spore density and molecular biology richness and diversity of soil, with host plant and soil properties in the the Sb and As mining area; (3) compared the effects of different soil properties on AMF richness and diversity; (4) and identified the relationships between different AMF species and soil properties at the family level. These conclusions could be considered in future phytoremediation strategies for Sb- and As-contaminated soil based on the selection and utilization of native AMF.