Abstract
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and the antioxidant germanium (Ge) are promising tools for boosting bioactive compound synthesis and producing healthier foods. However, their combined effect remains unexplored. This study demonstrates the synergistic impact of AMF and Ge on the growth, metabolite accumulation, biological activities, and nutritional qualities of Spinacia oleracea L. (spinach), a globally significant leafy vegetable. Individually, Ge and AMF increased biomass by 68.1% and 22.7%, respectively, while their combined effect led to an 86.3% increase. AMF and Ge also improved proximate composition, with AMF–Ge interaction enhancing crude fiber and mineral content (p < 0.05). Interestingly, AMF enhanced photosynthesis-related parameters (e.g., total chlorophyll) in Ge treated plants, which in turn increased carbohydrate accumulation. This accumulation could provide a route for the biosynthesis of amino acids, organic acids, and fatty acids, as evidenced by increased essential amino acid and organic acid levels. Consistently, the activity of key enzymes involved in amino acids biosynthesis (e.g., glutamine synthase (GS), methionine biosynthase (MS), lysine biosynthase (LS)) showed significant increments. Furthermore, AMF improved fatty acid levels, particularly unsaturated fatty acids in Ge-treated plants compared to the control. In addition, increased phenylalanine provided a precursor for the production of antioxidants (e.g., phenols and flavonoids), through the action of the enzyme phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), resulting in improved antioxidant activity gains as indicated by FRAP, ABTS, and DPPH assays. This study is the first to show that Ge enhances the beneficial effect of AMF on spinach, improving growth and nutritional quality, with promising implications for agricultural practices.
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Claims 12
Claim · model-written summary
Ge increased spinach biomass by 68.1%.
- Taxon
- Spinacia oleracea L.
Spinacia oleraceae1 - Treatment
- Gee0
- Outcome
- biomasse0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- 68.1%e0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Individually, Ge and AMF increased biomass by 68.1% and 22.7%, respectively”
e1“Spinacia oleracea L. (spinach)”
Claim · model-written summary
AMF increased spinach biomass by 22.7%.
- Taxon
- Spinacia oleracea L.Spinacia oleraceae1
- Treatment
- AMFe0
- Interactor
- AMFe0symbiont
- Outcome
- biomasse0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- 22.7%e0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Individually, Ge and AMF increased biomass by 68.1% and 22.7%, respectively”
e1“Spinacia oleracea L. (spinach)”
Claim · model-written summary
Combined AMF and Ge increased spinach biomass by 86.3%.
- Taxon
- Spinacia oleracea L.Spinacia oleraceae1
- Treatment
- their combined effecte0
- Interactor
- AMFe0symbiont
- Outcome
- biomasse0
- Direction
- increasee0
- Value
- 86.3%e0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Individually, Ge and AMF increased biomass by 68.1% and 22.7%, respectively, while their combined effect led to an 86.3% increase”
e1“Spinacia oleracea L. (spinach)”
Claim · model-written summary
AMF and Ge improved spinach proximate composition.
- Taxon
- Spinacia oleracea L.Spinacia oleraceae1
- Treatment
- AMF and Gee0
- Interactor
- AMFe0symbiont
- Outcome
- proximate compositione0
- Direction
- improvede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“AMF and Ge also improved proximate composition”
e1“Spinacia oleracea L. (spinach)”
Claim · model-written summary
AMF–Ge interaction enhanced crude fiber and mineral content.
- Taxon
- Spinacia oleracea L.Spinacia oleraceae1
- Treatment
- AMF–Ge interactione0
- Interactor
- AMFe0symbiont
- Outcome
- crude fiber and mineral contente0
- Direction
- enhancinge0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“AMF–Ge interaction enhancing crude fiber and mineral content (p < 0.05)”
e1“Spinacia oleracea L. (spinach)”
Claim · model-written summary
AMF enhanced photosynthesis-related parameters in Ge-treated spinach.
- Taxon
- Spinacia oleracea L.Spinacia oleraceae1
- Treatment
- AMFe0
- Interactor
- AMFe0symbiont
- Outcome
- photosynthesis-related parameterse0
- Direction
- enhancede0
- Qualifier
- Ge treated plantse0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“AMF enhanced photosynthesis-related parameters (e.g., total chlorophyll) in Ge treated plants”
e1“Spinacia oleracea L. (spinach)”
Claim · model-written summary
Enhanced photosynthesis-related parameters increased carbohydrate accumulation.
- Taxon
- Spinacia oleracea L.Spinacia oleraceae1
- Interactor
- AMFe0symbiont
- Outcome
- carbohydrate accumulatione0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Qualifier
- photosynthesis-related parameterse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“AMF enhanced photosynthesis-related parameters (e.g., total chlorophyll) in Ge treated plants, which in turn increased carbohydrate accumulation”
e1“Spinacia oleracea L. (spinach)”
Claim · model-written summary
Essential amino acid and organic acid levels increased in spinach.
- Taxon
- Spinacia oleracea L.Spinacia oleraceae1
- Outcome
- essential amino acid and organic acid levelse0
- Direction
- increasede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“increased essential amino acid and organic acid levels”
e1“Spinacia oleracea L. (spinach)”
Claim · model-written summary
Activities of amino acid biosynthesis enzymes significantly increased.
- Taxon
- Spinacia oleracea L.Spinacia oleraceae1
- Gene
- glutamine synthase (GS), methionine biosynthase (MS), lysine biosynthase (LS)e0
- Outcome
- activity of key enzymes involved in amino acids biosynthesise0
- Direction
- incrementse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the activity of key enzymes involved in amino acids biosynthesis (e.g., glutamine synthase (GS), methionine biosynthase (MS), lysine biosynthase (LS)) showed significant increments”
e1“Spinacia oleracea L. (spinach)”
Claim · model-written summary
AMF improved fatty acid levels, particularly unsaturated fatty acids, in Ge-treated spinach compared with control.
- Taxon
- Spinacia oleracea L.Spinacia oleraceae1
- Treatment
- AMFe0
- Interactor
- AMFe0symbiont
- Outcome
- fatty acid levels, particularly unsaturated fatty acidse0
- Direction
- improvede0
- Qualifier
- Ge-treated plantse0
- Comparator
- the controle0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“AMF improved fatty acid levels, particularly unsaturated fatty acids in Ge-treated plants compared to the control”
e1“Spinacia oleracea L. (spinach)”
Claim · model-written summary
Phenylalanine increased, providing an antioxidant precursor.
- Taxon
- Spinacia oleracea L.Spinacia oleraceae1
- Outcome
- phenylalaninee0
- Direction
- increasede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“increased phenylalanine provided a precursor for the production of antioxidants”
e1“Spinacia oleracea L. (spinach)”
Claim · model-written summary
Antioxidant activity improved as indicated by FRAP, ABTS and DPPH assays.
- Taxon
- Spinacia oleracea L.Spinacia oleraceae1
- Outcome
- antioxidant activitye0
- Direction
- improvede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“improved antioxidant activity gains as indicated by FRAP, ABTS, and DPPH assays”
e1“Spinacia oleracea L. (spinach)”
The same questions in other papers
mycorrhiza · physiology: photosynthesis · Spinacia oleracea (spinach)Results agree
1 paper in the same direction as this paper
- positive
mycorrhiza · growth · Spinacia oleracea (spinach)Results agree
3 papers in the same direction as this paper
- positive
- positive
- positive
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.