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Introductory video animation providing some basic information about mycorrhizas. A mycorrhiza (from Ancient Greek μύκης (múkēs) ' fungus ' and ῥίζα (rhíza) ' root '; pl. mycorrhizae, mycorrhiza, or mycorrhizas) [1] is a symbiotic association between a fungus and a plant. [2]
Arbuscular mycorrhizal networks are those in which fungal hyphae not only enter the plant's roots but also penetrate into the cells themselves. Ectomycorrhizal networks send hyphae into the roots where they thread their way between the plant cells but do not penetrate cell walls. The arbuscular type is the most common among land plants and is ...
Basidiomycota fungi form ecto-, orchid, monotropoid, arbutoid, and some ericoid mycorrhizae. Fungal hyphae are thinner than plant roots, which allows them to penetrate areas in the soil with moisture and nutrient that are inaccessible to roots. In some cases, mycorrhizal fungi in the mycorrhizosphere may ward off fungal plant pathogens.
Mycorrhizal fungi are nutrient rich structures compared to the roots they colonize, and it is possible that mycorrhizal colonization of roots leads to increased rates of root decomposition because decomposers would have greater access to nutrients.
Mycorrhizal fungi can extend a great distance into bulk soil, [5] thereby increasing the root system's reach and surface area, enabling mycorrhizal fungi to acquire a large percentage of its host plant's nutrients. In some ecosystems, up to 80% of plant nitrogen and 90% of plant phosphorus is acquired by mycorrhizal fungi. [14]
The ericoid mycorrhiza is a mutualistic relationship formed between members of the plant family Ericaceae and several lineages of mycorrhizal fungi. This symbiosis represents an important adaptation to acidic and nutrient poor soils that species in the Ericaceae typically inhabit, [ 1 ] including boreal forests , bogs , and heathlands .
Further evidence that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi exhibit host-specific chemotaxis, that enable hyphal growth toward the roots of a potential host plant: Spores of Glomus mosseae were separated from the roots of a host plant, nonhost plants, and dead host plant by a membrane permeable only to hyphae. In the treatment with the host plant, the ...
The formation of pelotons in root cortical cells is a defining anatomical structure in orchid mycorrhiza that differentiate it from other forms of fungi. [17] The pelotons can range in size and in the arrangement and density packaging of their hyphae. [7]