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Algal-fungal symbiosis leads to photosynthetic mycelium

Mutualistic interactions between free-living algae and fungi are widespread in nature and are hypothesized to have facilitated the evolution of land plants and lichens. In all known algal-fungal mutualisms, including lichens, algal cells remain external to fungal cells. Here, we report on an algal–f...

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Autores principales: Du, Zhi-Yan, Zienkiewicz, Krzysztof, Vande Pol, Natalie, Ostrom, Nathaniel E, Benning, Christoph, Bonito, Gregory M
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6634985/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31307571
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47815
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author Du, Zhi-Yan
Zienkiewicz, Krzysztof
Vande Pol, Natalie
Ostrom, Nathaniel E
Benning, Christoph
Bonito, Gregory M
author_facet Du, Zhi-Yan
Zienkiewicz, Krzysztof
Vande Pol, Natalie
Ostrom, Nathaniel E
Benning, Christoph
Bonito, Gregory M
author_sort Du, Zhi-Yan
collection PubMed
description Mutualistic interactions between free-living algae and fungi are widespread in nature and are hypothesized to have facilitated the evolution of land plants and lichens. In all known algal-fungal mutualisms, including lichens, algal cells remain external to fungal cells. Here, we report on an algal–fungal interaction in which Nannochloropsis oceanica algal cells become internalized within the hyphae of the fungus Mortierella elongata. This apparent symbiosis begins with close physical contact and nutrient exchange, including carbon and nitrogen transfer between fungal and algal cells as demonstrated by isotope tracer experiments. This mutualism appears to be stable, as both partners remain physiologically active over months of co-cultivation, leading to the eventual internalization of photosynthetic algal cells, which persist to function, grow and divide within fungal hyphae. Nannochloropsis and Mortierella are biotechnologically important species for lipids and biofuel production, with available genomes and molecular tool kits. Based on the current observations, they provide unique opportunities for studying fungal-algal mutualisms including mechanisms leading to endosymbiosis.
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spelling pubmed-66349852019-07-18 Algal-fungal symbiosis leads to photosynthetic mycelium Du, Zhi-Yan Zienkiewicz, Krzysztof Vande Pol, Natalie Ostrom, Nathaniel E Benning, Christoph Bonito, Gregory M eLife Ecology Mutualistic interactions between free-living algae and fungi are widespread in nature and are hypothesized to have facilitated the evolution of land plants and lichens. In all known algal-fungal mutualisms, including lichens, algal cells remain external to fungal cells. Here, we report on an algal–fungal interaction in which Nannochloropsis oceanica algal cells become internalized within the hyphae of the fungus Mortierella elongata. This apparent symbiosis begins with close physical contact and nutrient exchange, including carbon and nitrogen transfer between fungal and algal cells as demonstrated by isotope tracer experiments. This mutualism appears to be stable, as both partners remain physiologically active over months of co-cultivation, leading to the eventual internalization of photosynthetic algal cells, which persist to function, grow and divide within fungal hyphae. Nannochloropsis and Mortierella are biotechnologically important species for lipids and biofuel production, with available genomes and molecular tool kits. Based on the current observations, they provide unique opportunities for studying fungal-algal mutualisms including mechanisms leading to endosymbiosis. eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2019-07-16 /pmc/articles/PMC6634985/ /pubmed/31307571 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47815 Text en © 2019, Du et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Ecology
Du, Zhi-Yan
Zienkiewicz, Krzysztof
Vande Pol, Natalie
Ostrom, Nathaniel E
Benning, Christoph
Bonito, Gregory M
Algal-fungal symbiosis leads to photosynthetic mycelium
title Algal-fungal symbiosis leads to photosynthetic mycelium
title_full Algal-fungal symbiosis leads to photosynthetic mycelium
title_fullStr Algal-fungal symbiosis leads to photosynthetic mycelium
title_full_unstemmed Algal-fungal symbiosis leads to photosynthetic mycelium
title_short Algal-fungal symbiosis leads to photosynthetic mycelium
title_sort algal-fungal symbiosis leads to photosynthetic mycelium
topic Ecology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6634985/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31307571
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47815
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