Natures wonders: fungus/plant root symbiosis (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, November 26, 2013, 15:25 (4013 days ago) @ David Turell

"Glomeromycota is an ancient lineage of fungi that has a symbiotic relationship with roots that goes back nearly 420 million years to the earliest plants. More than two thirds of the world's plants depend on this soil-dwelling symbiotic fungus to survive, including critical agricultural crops such as wheat, cassava, and rice. The analysis of the Rhizophagus irregularis genome has revealed that this asexual fungus doesn't shuffle its genes the way researchers expected. Moreover, rather than having lost much of its metabolic genes, as observed in many mutualistic organisms, it has expanded its range of cell-to-cell communication genes and phosphorus-capturing genes"- Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-11-scavenging-fungi-friend.html#jCp