Interactions between plants and fungal symbionts are not always balanced affairs.
Tag - symbiosis
Liam Elliott
Simulated Herbivory Leads Grasses to Pass Fungal Symbionts to Their Offspring
Many grasses host symbiotic fungi, Epichloë spp. These fungi can help grasses tolerate herbivory, or help repel herbivores. But how do these fungi pass between plant hosts? They could be passed horizontally between...
Alex Assiry
Thismia and its unusual number of specialist relationships.
Plants sometimes specialise. Catering for a specific partner can ensure a reliable source of food or pollination. At the same time, relying on that partner limits your adaptability. A new study by Guo and colleagues, A...
Alun Salt
What can you do with a holobiont?
It's said all plants are holobionts. If that's true why bother creating a new word? What value does the word holobiont bring that plant doesn't already have?
Effects of plant polyploidy on the legume-rhizobia mutualism
Polyploidy alters plant genomes, phenotypes, and abiotic interactions. The effects of polyploidy on plant-biotic interactions however are less well known. One important plant-biotic interaction is the legume-rhizobia...
botanyone
Plectocarpon lichenum: the parasite that makes itself comfortable when it moves into a lichen
What happens when an unwanted visitor infects a lichen? Plectocarpon lichenum makes it harder for its host to eject it.
How do you grow a palm? The secret’s in the soil.
An investigation on a tiny island reveals that microscopic fungi can dictate the destiny of giants, opening the possibility of mycorrhizal-driven speciation.
The lachrymatory tale of the barnacle and the bacterium
For Valentine's Day Nigel Chaffey finds a tale of an unlikely couple who have set up home together, though it ends in tears.
Nigel Chaffey
Antarctic endophytes improve drought tolerance in lettuce plants
Climate change has limited the availability of water for irrigating crops throughout many regions of the world. Indeed, current models of climate change predict that arid and semi-arid zones will be places where...
AoBPLANTS
Mycorrhizal fungi and distribution of specialized orchids
The use of a widespread fungal operational taxonomic unit in P. deformis enables a broad distribution despite high mycorrhizal specificity.
A mutualistic endophyte alters the niche dimensions of its host plant
Mutualisms can play important roles in influencing species coexistence and determining community composition. However, few studies have tested whether mutualisms may affect species distributions by altering the niches...
Collaboration between grass seedlings and rhizobacteria to scavenge organic nitrogen in soils
Plants require nitrogen to make proteins, nucleic acids and other biological molecules. It is widely accepted that plants absorb inorganic forms of nitrogen to fill their needs. However, recently it has become clear...
Better together…
A study shows coral polyps actively generate micro-currents and eddies to promote nutrient inflow and exchange of materials using externally located cilia.
An underground tale: contribution of microbial activity to plant iron acquisition
This review focuses on the possible mechanisms underlying the promotion of plant Fe acquisition by soil micro-organisms.
AJ Cann