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1. Interannual dynamics of Tuber melanosporum and fungal communities in productive black truffle orchards amended with truffle nests

   https://doi.org/10.1093/femsec/fiad084  

   Garcia-Barreda, Sergi; Marco, Pedro; Bonito, Gregory; Parladé, Javier; Sánchez, Sergio; González, Vicente; Larena, Inmaculada; Benucci, Gian_Maria_Niccolò (July 2023, FEMS Microbiology Ecology)

   Abstract Truffle growers devote great efforts to improve black truffle productivity, developing agronomic practices such as ‘truffle nests’ (peat amendments that are supplemented with truffle spore inoculum). It has been hypothesized that improved fruiting associated with nests is linked to stimulation of truffle mycelia previously established in soil or to changes generated in soil fungal community. To assess this, we used real-time PCR to quantify black truffle extraradical mycelium during 2 years after nests installation. We also characterized the fungal community via high-throughput amplicon sequencing of the ITS region of rRNA genes. We found that neither the abundance of truffle mycelium in nests nor in the soil—nest interphase was higher than in the bulk soil, which indicates that nests do not improve mycelial growth. The fungal community in nests showed lower richness and Shannon index and was compositionally different from that of soil, which suggests that nests may act as an open niche for fungal colonization that facilitates truffle fruiting. The ectomycorrhizal fungal community showed lower richness in nests. However, no negative relationships between amount of truffle mycelium and reads of other ectomycorrhizal fungi were found, thus countering the hypothesis that ectomycorrhizal competition plays a role in the nest effect. 

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2. Status of truffle science and cultivation in North America

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-024-06822-4  

   Coleman, Mark D; Berch, Shannon; Bonito, Gregory; Allen, Brian; Andrews, Ellie; Arechiga_Carvajal, Elva T; Cook, Stephen P; D’Amours, Cameron; Garibay-Orijel, Roberto; Guevara, Gonzalo; et al (March 2025, Plant and Soil)

   Abstract BackgroundTruffles are subterranean fungal fruiting bodies that are highly prized for their culinary value. Cultivation of truffles was pioneered in Europe and has been successfully adapted in temperate regions throughout the globe. Truffle orchards have been established in North America since the 1980s, and while some are productive, there are still many challenges that must be overcome to develop a viable North American truffle industry. These challenges include extended delays between establishment and production, comparatively low yields, high spatial heterogeneity in yield distribution, and orchard contamination with lower-value truffle fungi. AimHere we review known requirements for truffle production including necessary environmental conditions, reproductive biology, and effective agronomic practices. ContentWe consider the potential limitations of importing exotic host-fungal associations into North America where there is already a rich community of competing ectomycorrhizal fungi, host pests and pathogens. We also describe the status of the North American truffle industry with respect to market potential, including production costs, pricing, and biological and socioeconomic risk factors. A critical aspect of modern trufficulture involves monitoring with genetic tools that supply information on identity, abundance and distribution of fungal symbionts, abundance of competitive and contaminating fungi, and insight into the interactions between fungal mating types that are fundamental to the formation of truffle primordia. ImplicationsCultivation of the ectomycorrhizal truffle symbiosis requires application of pragmatic agronomic practices, adopting rigorous quality control standards, and an understanding of fungal biology, microbiology, and molecular biology. Consequently, significant interdisciplinary collaboration is crucial to further develop the North American truffle industry. 

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3. Optimising in vitro culture conditions for the truffle Tuber brumale

   https://doi.org/10.2298/BOTSERB2302259S  

   Salehi Molkabadi, Reza; Bonito, Gregory; Ghasemi, Kamran; Ghanbary, Mohammad; Raouf Fard, Fatemeh (January 2023, Botanica Serbica)

   The vegetative propagation of ectomycorrhizal truffle fungi is limited by their slow mycelial growth. Many factors including media, isolate genotypes and environmental conditions can alter fungal mycelial growth rates. This study aimed to improve the in vitro growth rate of Tuber brumale by determining the optimal carbohydrate and nitrogen sources, temperature and pH. After 8 weeks, the highest level of growth and densest hyphal branching were recorded in the medium containing glucose as the main carbohydrate. For nitrogen, glutamine (200 mg N l-1) provided the greatest hyphal growth and density compared to the other amino acid treatments. Regarding temperature, 16?C proved to be optimal for T. brumale growth and branching. Media of pH 6 and pH 7 were most favourable for the growth of T. brumale. The results from this research provide baseline data on the vegetative nutrition of T. brumale and have implications for the in vitro culture of winter truffle hyphae. 

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4. Tuber luomae , a new spiny-spored truffle species from the Pacific Northwest, USA

   https://doi.org/10.3114/fuse.2020.06.15  

   Eberhart, J.; Trappe, J.; Páez, C. Piña; Bonito, G. (December 2020, Fungal Systematics and Evolution)

   null (Ed.)

   Tuber luomae, a new truffle species known only from the Pacific Northwest, USA, is distinguished by spiny, nonreticulate spores and a two-layered peridium — the outermost layer (pellis) consists of inflated, globose to subpolygonal cells and the inner (subpellis) of narrow hyphae. ITS sequence analyses show that it has phylogenetic affinity to other Tuber species in the Rufum clade. The only other members of the Rufum clade with a strongly developed peridiopellis of large, inflated cells are the southern European T. malacodermum and T. pustulatum and the northern Mexican T. theleascum . We find it interesting that this peridial structure that is uncommon in the Rufum clade has been found in geographically disjunct species. 

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5. Using high-throughput sequencing to investigate summer truffle consumption by chipmunks in relation to retention forestry

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2023.121460  

   Sultaire, Sean M.; Benucci, Gian Maria; Longley, Reid; Kroll, Andrew J.; Verschuyl, Jake; Bonito, Gregory; Roloff, Gary J. (December 2023, Forest Ecology and Management)