Mycorrhiza

MYCORRHIZAE AND FORESTRY What is Mycorrhiza: Albert Bernard Frank (1885), in his study of relationships between soil microbes and plants, introduced the Greek term ‘mycorrhiza’, which means ‘fungus roots’. Mycorrhizas are highly evolved symbiotic association between roots of most higher/vascular plants and certain specialized soil fungi (Ascomycetes, Basidiomycetes and Zygomyectes) that colonize the root cortex during periods of active plant growth both in the natural environment and in cultivation. This is a non-pathogenic peaceful relationship because on one side fungus provides nourishment to the plant and on the other side, it obtains the necessary carbohydrates and energy from the host plant. Types of Mycorrhizae : The mycorrhizal associations…

I. A Competitive Edge The best races have the best competitors, and angiosperms have certainly been described as having an extra edge. As discussed in the introduction, the fossil record shows that gymnosperms were quickly displaced by angiosperms upon their arrival. Yet despite the number of hypotheses (table 1) put forward to explain this shift in vegetation, gymnosperms’ competitors have not yet been discovered. Among the numerous hypotheses, three are discussed in depth here (summarised in…

3.2 Introduction A current goal of ecology is to understand the impacts of biological invasions on food-web structure and dynamics (Jackson et al. 2012; Simberloff et al. 2013; Lurgi et al. 2014). Research suggests that terrestrial food webs, which are depictions of biodiversity, species interactions, and ecosystem structure (Polis & Strong 1996), are dramatically altered following plant invasion (DeVore & Maerz 2014; McCary et al. 2016; Smith-Ramesh et al. 2016). For example, successful plant…

Glomus versiforme belongs to the Arbuscular mycorrhiza family of fungi, these are biotrophs that feed only on the products of photosynthesis of their plant host. These really ancient and diverse creatures have had a really slow process of evolution. It can be found almost everywhere and is linked to 80% (some scientist think up to 90%) of all plants in the world. When most of us think of fungi we automatically think negatively, but these curious creatures are beneficial to their host in many…

(Soragni et al., 2002). Like most sPLA2 enzymes, the phospholipase activity of TbSP1 (Mw 19 kDa) is Ca2+ dependent and contains a predicted N-terminal secretion signal peptide with a pre-protein cleavage site, a conserved (Arg-Gly-Asp) motif, and conserved catalytic His, Ca2+ binding and disulfide bonded cysteine residues forming a new XIV group within the PLA2 superfamily (Soragni et al., 2002; Kohler et al., 2006). Expression of TbSP1 in the symbiotic fungus T. borchii was found to be…

some bacteria that are completely harmless. The bacteria Staphylococcus lives on human skin and does no harm and no good. This relationship would be considered commensalism. Now, Protists are unicellular organisms from the kingdom Protista. An example of a parasitic protist would be Plasmodium which causes Malaria. The prostist enters the blood stream, clogging capillaries and blood vessels, while destroying blood, which leads to death if untreated. Protists can do good as well. The protist…