Mycotrophy

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Mycotrophy (from the Greek mykes = mushroom and trophein = nourish) describes the way plants are fed with the help of fungi ( mycorrhiza ). A distinction can be made between two forms:

  1. In the myco- autotrophic plants, the hyphae of the fungal partner ( mycobiont ) take over the function of the fine roots and supply the plant partner ( phytobiont ) with water and mineral nutrients. In return, the fungi receive carbohydrates from the autotrophic plant. This form of mutualistic symbiosis is also known as mycorrhiza . Most tree species and around 90% of all land plants in total can enter into such a symbiosis with fungi if this is advantageous due to the environmental conditions.
  2. Myco- heterotrophic plants, on the other hand, are plants that are fully nourished by their fungal partners without doing anything in return. A few plants ( Monotropoideae ) also have the special form of epiparasitism , so the plants do not parasitize on the fungus itself, but receive nutrients from it that the fungus gets from another plant with which it lives in real symbiosis. There are two sub-forms:
  1. Partially myco-heterotrophic plants (hemi-myco-heterotrophy) combine photosynthesis and parasitism on the fungus for their diet. See coral root .
  2. However, fully myco-heterotrophic plants (holo-myco-heterotrophy) no longer photosynthesize at all and obtain their nutrients completely from the fungus. See bird's nest root , spruce asparagus and corsia .

Many plants are facultatively mycotrophic , they do not depend on mycorrhiza, but benefit from mycorrhiza if nutrients are limited or a stress situation is present (plant stress). Only a few plants are obligately mycotrophic , so they cannot live without a fungal partner under natural conditions.

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