Skip Navigation


JXB Advance Access originally published online on February 13, 2008
Journal of Experimental Botany 2008 59(5):1097-1108; doi:10.1093/jxb/erm334
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
59/5/1097    most recent
erm334v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (2)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Nehls, U.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Nehls, U.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Nehls, U.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author [2008]. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology]. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

REVIEW-ARTICLE

Mastering ectomycorrhizal symbiosis: the impact of carbohydrates

Uwe Nehls*

Universität Tübingen, Botanisches Institut, Physiologische Ökologie der Pflanzen, Auf der Morgenstelle 1, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany

* E-mail: uwe.nehls{at}uni-tuebingen.de

Mycorrhiza formation is the consequence of a mutualistic interaction between certain soil fungi and plant roots that helps to overcome nutritional limitations faced by the respective partners. In symbiosis, fungi contribute to tree nutrition by means of mineral weathering and mobilization of nutrients from organic matter, and obtain plant-derived carbohydrates as a response. Support with easily degradable carbohydrates seems to be the driving force for fungi to undergo this type of interaction. As a consequence, the fungal hexose uptake capacity is strongly increased in Hartig net hyphae of the model fungi Amanita muscaria and Laccaria bicolor. Next to fast carbohydrate uptake and metabolism, storage carbohydrates are of special interest. In functional A. muscaria ectomycorrhizas, expression and activity of proteins involved in trehalose biosynthesis is mainly localized in hyphae of the Hartig net, indicating an important function of trehalose in generation of a strong carbon sink by fungal hyphae. In symbiosis, fungal partners receive up to ~19 times more carbohydrates from their hosts than normal leakage of the root system would cause, resulting in a strong carbohydrate demand of infected roots and, as a consequence, a more efficient plant photosynthesis. To avoid fungal parasitism, the plant seems to have developed mechanisms to control carbohydrate drain towards the fungal partner and link it to the fungus-derived mineral nutrition. In this contribution, current knowledge on fungal strategies to obtain carbohydrates from its host and plant strategies to enable, but also to control and restrict (under certain conditions), carbon transfer are summarized.

Key words: Carbohydrate metabolism, ectomycorrhiza, fungi, soil, symbiosis, transport

Received 7 August 2007; Revised 20 November 2007 Accepted 30 November 2007


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.