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Fungi crave fats and plants entice them with it
T
he study of mycorrhizal relationships (those symbioses involving fungi and plant roots) has been a hot area of
research over the past few decades. One of the most exciting realizations to come from this work is that fungi facilitated the move by plants from an aquatic (marine) habitat onto dry land. Te migration of plants started somewhere around 450 million years ago and required plants to acquire a number of crucial new traits. Fossil records provide compelling evidence that one of these traits was the mutualistic symbiosis between
these early land plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. But how was it that fungi were enticed into the partnership in the first place? In a recent paper, Rich et al. (Science vol. 372, no. 864) show that the primitive land plant Marchantia paleacea produces lipids that are transferred to the fungus and that this process is essential for a functional symbiosis (see image, courtesy Science). Higher plants also produce lipids that have a role in symbiosis with AM fungi; algae, however, do not, suggesting that this process evolved 450 million years ago, allowing plants to colonize land, and is conserved across the plant kingdom. Te symbiosis of plants with AM fungi is so crucial for plant growth on land that about 80% of land plants engage in it. Te plant allows AM fungi to enter its roots and form nutrient-exchange structures called arbuscules in its cells (see figure). Outside the root, the fungal hyphae grow into the soil, up to 30 cm from the plant root, where they can take up water, phosphorus, nitrogen, and other elements that the plant cannot reach. For a long time, it was assumed that plants, in return for the resources supplied by the fungus, provided carbohydrates from photosynthesis to the fungus. Only recently, it was discovered that in addition to carbohydrates, plants also supply lipids to the fungus.
Amatoxtest, a cheap and quick test for amanitin, the deadliest mushroom toxin
T
he Amatoxtest, recently released from development to online sale (
amatoxtest.com), can detect super tiny
amounts of amanitin, the toxin that causes the majority of fatal mushroom poisonings. Te Amatoxtest is revolutionary because it puts the ability to detect amanitin directly into the hands of clinicians, veterinarians, mycologists, and anyone who is wondering whether the mushroom in their yard is deadly. Te Amatoxtest is similar to a pregnancy test: a couple of drops of a simple mushroom extract or urine from a possibly intoxicated human or animal are spotted onto one end of the strip, and within only a few minutes there is a clear readout of the presence (or not) of the major Amanita toxin. Other tests require a dedicated laboratory and skilled technicians, while the Amatoxtest can be reliably performed by almost anyone. Tis Editor personally tried the test with a dry mushroom specimen at the Mycological Society of San Francisco’s wild mushroom fair a couple of years ago and the test worked astoundingly well. I simply broke off a small piece of my dried Amanita phalloides specimen, placed it in a jar with just enough water to cover the mushroom, shook for about a minute, and then spotted a few drops of the water onto the test strip, per directions, and within a minute had positive test results (and the negative control mushroom was negative). As this edition was about to go to press I tried it with fresh Destroying Angel mushrooms in Wisconsin (Amanita suballiacea), dried A. ocreata from California, and a non toxic fresh Amanita (A. flavoconia) as a negative control. Te test worked even better that expected—it was so sensitive that contamination from my fingers and a knife could be picked up in a negative control, which was later
8 FUNGI Volume 14:4 Fall 2021
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