Journal
CURRENT OPINION IN PLANT BIOLOGY
Volume 7, Issue 4, Pages 422-428Publisher
CURRENT BIOLOGY LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.pbi.2004.04.004
Keywords
-
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
More than 400 achlorophyllous plant species in 87 genera are parasitic upon fungi, and exploit them as their principle source of carbon. With a few exceptions, most of these myco-heterotrophic plants are now thought to be 'cheats', stealing carbon and nutrients from the mycorrhizal associates of adjacent autotrophic plants. Most myco-heterotrophs are therefore considered to be epiparasitic on green plants. Both the ectomycorrhizal and arbuscular mycorrhizal symbioses have been invaded by myco-heterotrophic epiparasites. DNA analysis is revealing the identities of many of the fungal partners of myco-heterotrophs, and their exceptionally high specificity. Myco-heterotrophs have distinctive stable isotope signatures, which can be used to establish the dependence upon fungal carbon of green plants that are partially myco-heterotrophic.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available