Glomalin is a hypothetical glycoprotein produced abundantly on hyphae and spores of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in soil and in roots.
[3] What has been described is an extraction process involving heat and citrate, producing a mixture containing a substance that is reactive to a monoclonal antibody Mab32B11 raised against crushed AM fungi spores.
A similar decline in GRSP has also been observed in incubated soils from forested, afforested, and agricultural land[5] and grasslands treated with fungicide.
[4] Glomalin is the protein that binds to the Mab32B11 antibody, while GRSP is a crude extract containing many substances, including humic acids.
[5] However, since glomalin can not be adequate quantified in soil, studies usually analyze the GRSPs extract, which is a complex mixture including proteins and other substances.
[7][8] Sampled GRSP takes 7–42 years to biodegrade and is thought to contribute up to 30 percent of the soil carbon where mycorrhizal fungi is present.