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Fungal associations in H orneophyton ligneri from the R hynie C hert ( c . 407 million year old) closely resemble those in extant lower land plants: novel insights into ancestral plant–fungus symbioses
Author(s) -
StrulluDerrien Christine,
Kenrick Paul,
Pressel Silvia,
Duckett Jeffrey G.,
Rioult JeanPhilippe,
Strullu DésiréGeorges
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
new phytologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.742
H-Index - 244
eISSN - 1469-8137
pISSN - 0028-646X
DOI - 10.1111/nph.12805
Subject(s) - biology , glomeromycota , extant taxon , botany , spore , ecology , evolutionary biology , symbiosis , paleontology , mycorrhiza , bacteria
Summary Fungi ( E umycota) form close associations with plants, with which they have co‐existed since the dawn of life on land, but their diversity in early terrestrial ecosystems is still poorly understood. We studied petrographic sections of exceptionally well‐preserved petrified plants from the 407 million yr‐old R hynie C hert ( S cotland, UK ). For comparative purposes, we illustrate fungal associations in four extant lower land plants. We document two new endophytes in the plant H orneophyton lignieri : P alaeoglomus boullardii (sp. nov. Glomeromycota) colonizes parenchyma in a discontinuous zone of the outer cortex of the aerial axes, forming arbuscule‐like structures, vesicles and spores; P alaeoendogone gwynne‐vaughaniae (gen. nov., sp. nov. M ucoromycotina) colonizes parenchyma in the basal part of the plant, where it is present in intercellular spaces and as intracellular coils but absent from rhizoids. Critical comparisons between the newly discovered H orneophyton endophytes, fungi previously described from the R hynie C hert and fungal colonization in extant lower land plants reveal several features characteristic of both M ucoromycotina and G lomeromycota. A reappraisal of fungal associations in early land plants indicates that they are more diverse than assumed hitherto, overturning the long‐held paradigm that the early endophytes were exclusively G lomeromycota.