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Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are found in 80% of plant species [44] and have been surveyed on all continents except Antarctica. [45] [46] The biogeography of glomeromycota is influenced by dispersal limitation, [47] environmental factors such as climate, [45] soil series and soil pH, [46] soil nutrients [48] and plant community.
The hyphae of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi produce the glycoprotein glomalin, which may be one of the major stores of carbon in the soil. [38] Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi have (possibly) been asexual for many millions of years and, unusually, individuals can contain many genetically different nuclei (a phenomenon called heterokaryosis). [39]
Arbuscular (from arbuscula, Latin for “tiny tree”) mycorrhizal (“fungus-root”) fungi have ancient origins as plant symbionts. The earliest fossil evidence of a glomeromycete arbuscule, the site of plant-fungi exchange, is known from the Rhynie Chert, which dates to 407 million years ago, during the Lower Devonian. [4]
A fully developed arbuscular mycorrhizal structure facilitates the two-way movement of nutrients between the host and mutualistic fungal partner. The symbiotic association allows the host plant to respond better to environmental stresses, and the non-photosynthetic fungi to obtain carbohydrates produced by photosynthesis. [14]
The mycorrhizal symbiosis between plants and fungi is fundamental to terrestrial ecosystems, with evolutionary origins before the colonization of land by plants. [17] In the mycorrhizal symbiosis, a plant and a fungus become physically linked to one another and establish an exchange of resources between one another.
Glomus is a genus of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, and all species form symbiotic relationships (mycorrhizae) with plant roots. Glomus is the largest genus of AM fungi, with ca. 85 species described, but is currently defined as non-monophyletic. [2]