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Article Addendum

An Alternative Mode of Early Land Plant Colonization by Putative Endomycorrhizal Fungi

Michael Krings, Thomas N. Taylor, Hagen Hass, Hans Kerp, Nora Dotzler and Elizabeth J. Hermsen

volume 2 | issue 2

march/april 2007
Pages: 125 - 126

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Rhizomatous axes of Nothia aphylla, a land plant from the 400-myr-old Rhynie chert, host a fungus that closely resembles Glomites rhyniensis (Glomeromycota), the endomycorrhizal fungus of the Rhynie chert plant Aglaophyton major. However, G. rhyniensis is an intercellular endophyte that becomes intracellular exclusively within a well-defined region of the cortex, while the fungus in N. aphylla initially is intracellular but later becomes intercellular in the cortex. We hypothesize that N. aphylla displays an alternative mode of colonization by endomycorrhizal fungi, perhaps related to the peculiar internal anatomy of the lower portion of the rhizomatous axis, in which the radial arrangement of cells, along with the virtual absence of intercellular spaces, provides no intercellular infection pathway into the cortex.

Authors

Michael Krings

Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie, Munich, Germany

Thomas N. Taylor

University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

Hagen Hass

Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster Germany

Hans Kerp