Laboratory and Greenhouse

Day-to-day activities of the International Culture Collection of Glomeromycota (CICG) are carried out at the Laboratory of Mycorrhizae and in two Greenhouses, belonging to the Department of Ciências Naturais, Universidade Regional de Blumenau.

LABORATORY

The Laboratory has an area of ​​85 m², with a good basic infrastructure and properly distributed, allowing a series of activities to be carried out concurrently. In this laboratory, pure cultures belonging to the CICG are assembled and stored and, therefore, the entry of field soil into this environment is expressly prohibited.

At the entrance of the laboratory there is a granite countertop with a sink for cleaning glassware and materials in general. Next to it is the water bath (with easy access to the sink to put water) and two dry-ovens where materials and slides with mounted spores are dried.

One workstation has good quality dissecting scope and an Axiostar Plus microscope (Zeiss) that are used to analyze root colonization, spore collection and identification. Using these dissecting scopes, spore measurements, color observation and cleaning are performed for the establishment of pure cultures and the establishment of vouchers (in azide and slides). The station is mounted on a bench with comfortable and adjustable chairs to have an adequate and efficient working environment. Next to it is a centrifuge used in the spore extraction process.

A second workstation also features a good quality dissecting scope and an Axio Imager 2 microscope with transmitted light, bright field and DIC illumination. In this microscope, spore images are captured to feed the CICG pages referring to the description of the species and for publication. The adjacent computer contains the stored images as well as a bibliography database on mycorrhizae, which is updated every two weeks. This station was mounted on a table made of noble hardwood with a glass on it for protection.

Pure AMF cultures are stored in three refrigerators, kept at 4^o C in which soil or other material unrelated to the collection are not allowed. Other smaller refrigerators are used for routine laboratory activities such as storage of seeds, Petri dishes with spores, nutrient solutions, etc.

The heaviest work of assembling trap cultures or experiments, wet sieving and autoclaving substrate for sterilization are carried out in an adjacent laboratory, shared with other teachers.

GREENHOUSE

CICG has two greenhouses for its routine activities. The greenhouse where only AMF single cultures are kept has an area of ​​24 m², built up to a height of 1.2 m with concrete blocks and above these with honeycombed polycarbonate plates. The floor is completely covered with a non-slip ceramic floor. The benches are fixed, with galvanized plates on concrete blocks. Access to this greenhouse is restricted and cleaning is done monthly with running water and sodium hypochlorite. The control of insects and pests that can attack plant hosts is done periodically. A lighting system to supplement solar lighting is placed above the benches.

A second greenhouse made of polycarbonate plates, with fixed benches of galvanized plates and light supplementation is used for trap cultures and any trial or experiment that contains soil from the field.