Subject: Anaerobic Fungi...

From: Grunden Eric <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 1996 17:42:04 -0600

Much to my surprise, I recently read about the existence of fungi
which are obligate anaerobes. This has set me to wondering; Do
these fungi ever produce fruiting bodies or are they strictly
asexual?  Are they edible? Are they (like the leaf-cutter fungus)
the next, as of yet, undiscovered delicacy, waiting to be prized 
by gourmets worldwide? Curious....?  Oh, also, there are many
cases of fungi parasitizing plants, but does the opposite ever
occur? Is there a parasitic plant that exists off of fungi?
I know that insectivorous plants utilize the chitin of insects as a
nitrogen source, and that's why I began wondering if any plants
utilize fungal chitin in a similar manner. Any thoughts?......

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 1996 06:54:50 -0800

On Wed, 20 Mar 1996, Grunden Eric wrote:
> Oh, also, there are many

Sarcodes, Monotropa and other members of the subfamily Monotropoideae 
(Ericaceae) parasitize the mycorrhizal fungi of other plants, drawing off 
photosynthate.  They support a variation of the ericoid infection, termed 
(not surprisingly) a monotropoid infection.

The Orobanchaceae are another group of achlorophylous mycoparasites.  
Does anyone know what sort of infection morphology they support?

------------------------==+==--------------------------
Curt Seeliger                [email-masked]   
Soil Ecology Group (of 1!)   "Nature laughs last."
Humbled State University
Arcata, CA      95521

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From: Thomas O'Dell <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 1996 11:24:39 -0800

Monotropoid colonization is a modification of ectomycorrhizae I beleive,
similar to arbutoid and ectendomycorrhizae where there is intracellular
penetration of hyphae, all of these mycorrhizae have a mantle and hartig
net as do ectomycorrhizae. I dont know about Orabanche, I thought that at
least soem are plant parasites, putting haustoria into host plants...
check Leake's article in New Phytol.

> Does anyone know what sort of infection morphology they support?

[email-masked]
"when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro"
H.S. Thompson

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From: Dave Jefferies <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 23 Mar 1996 01:07:47 +0000

A few remnants of my mycological knowledge:

The obligate anaerobes were discovered in, if my memory servres me,
sheeps' guts and not immediately recognized as fungi (since fungi are
aerobic!). I no longer have any references to hand.

The orchid mycorrhzas could be described as the plants being parasitic
on fungi. This would be the case in particular with those orchids that
lack chlorophyll but look up the development of the dust like orchid 
seeds.
 
There is a fundamental problem in the term 'parasite' since this
describes just one part of the symbiotic spectrum. The exact
relationship in terms of net nutrient flows will vary depending on the
environment/development of the symbiosis.

A colleague, Johnathan Leake of Sheffield (UK) University, published a
review of plants without chlorophyll in New Phytologist about 2 years
ago and that may be of interest.

Dave
Whose heart is filled with fungi but now turns to computers to fill his
purse.

In article <[email-masked]>,
Grunden Eric <[email-masked]> writes

-- 
Dave Jefferies

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From: [email-masked] (Eric Robb Siegel)
Date: 31 Mar 1996 16:27:05 -0800

On Wed, 20 Mar 1996, Grunden Eric wrote, among other things:
> .................................. Oh, also, there are many 
I did a term paper on mycorrhizas about two `n'a half years ago, and ran 
across a mycorrhizal association with non-chlorophyllous plants called 
"monotropids", I think.  Monotropa was the type genus.  I think they 
grow in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, and I believe Trappe was 
one of the people who published on this.  The idea I have, after 
two-plus years of memory-fade, is that the monotropids tapped into the 
tree mycorrhizas and fed off the tree photosynthates being diverted to 
the mycorrhizas.  Perhaps Richard Winder could comment, since that's 
approximately his neck of the woods, so to speak.

Also, certain species of orchid apparently establish mycorrhizal 
associations with fungal plant pathogens such as Rhizoctonia and 
Armillaria.  The more virulent the fungal strain, the better the orchid 
does.  Some appear to flower only when near trees succumbing to 
Armillaria.

I can't say for sure about plants reclaiming nitrogen from fungal 
chitin, but you might want to investigate the fate of the arbuscules in 
the vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizas.

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From: [email-masked] (Aruncus)
Date: 2 Apr 1996 14:40:27 -0500

Hello, I was not certain on how to post here, what address you send to if
just starting a post and not replying to someone elses, let me know the
actual post address, please.  Anyway, I write environmental analysis for
Forest Service and have read that orchids often grow underground for
several years without flowering, I would appreciate it if someone could
provide me a literature citation to support this.  This becomes critical
as we have habitat in this area for several rare orchids and we like to 
say we survey for them before ground disturbing activities, but if they
are underground how meaningful is the survey ??  Let me know of any
information and sources you might  know of.  Thanks in advance