TY - JOUR
T1 - In Vitro Observations of the Interactions between Pholiota carbonaria and Polytrichum commune and Its Potential Environmental Relevance
AU - Raudabaugh, Daniel B.
AU - Wells, Daniel G.
AU - Matheny, Patrick B.
AU - Hughes, Karen W.
AU - Sargent, Malcolm
AU - Iturriaga, Teresa
AU - Miller, Andrew N.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This study was supported by awards from the National Science Foundation for “Collaborative Research: A Survey of Post-Fire Ascomycete and Basidiomycete Fungi in an Eastern Deciduous Forest” to the University of Tennessee (DEB 1733750) and the University of Illinois (DEB 1733854). In addition, this study was supported in part by the Schmidt Science Fellows, in partnership with the Rhodes Trust. Lastly, we thank Paul Super, Science Coordinator at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, for the collection permit (study GRSM-01294, permit GRSM-2017-SCI-1294).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/6
Y1 - 2021/6
N2 - Wildfires play a critical role in maintaining biodiversity and shaping ecosystem structure in fire-prone regions, and successional patterns involving numerous plant and fungal species in post-fire events have been elucidated. Evidence is growing to support the idea that some post-fire fungi can form endophytic/endolichenic relationships with plants and lichens. However, no direct observations of fire-associated fungal–moss interactions have been visualized to date. Therefore, physical interactions between a post-fire fungus, Pholiota carbonaria, and a moss, Polytrichum commune, were visually examined under laboratory conditions. Fungal appressoria were visualized on germi-nating spores and living protonemata within two weeks of inoculation in most growth chambers. Appressoria were pigmented, reddish gold to braun, and with a penetration peg. Pigmented, reddish gold to braun fungal hyphae were associated with living tissue, and numerous mature rhizoids contained fungal hyphae at six months. Inter-rhizoidal hyphae were pigmented and reddish gold to braun, but no structures were visualized on mature gametophyte leaf or stem tissues. Based on our visual evidence and previous work, we provide additional support for P. carbonaria having multiple strategies in how it obtains nutrients from the environment, and provide the first visual documentation of these structures in vitro.
AB - Wildfires play a critical role in maintaining biodiversity and shaping ecosystem structure in fire-prone regions, and successional patterns involving numerous plant and fungal species in post-fire events have been elucidated. Evidence is growing to support the idea that some post-fire fungi can form endophytic/endolichenic relationships with plants and lichens. However, no direct observations of fire-associated fungal–moss interactions have been visualized to date. Therefore, physical interactions between a post-fire fungus, Pholiota carbonaria, and a moss, Polytrichum commune, were visually examined under laboratory conditions. Fungal appressoria were visualized on germi-nating spores and living protonemata within two weeks of inoculation in most growth chambers. Appressoria were pigmented, reddish gold to braun, and with a penetration peg. Pigmented, reddish gold to braun fungal hyphae were associated with living tissue, and numerous mature rhizoids contained fungal hyphae at six months. Inter-rhizoidal hyphae were pigmented and reddish gold to braun, but no structures were visualized on mature gametophyte leaf or stem tissues. Based on our visual evidence and previous work, we provide additional support for P. carbonaria having multiple strategies in how it obtains nutrients from the environment, and provide the first visual documentation of these structures in vitro.
KW - Agaricales
KW - Endophytes
KW - Fungal–bryophyte ecology
KW - Pyrophilous fungi
KW - Wildfire
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U2 - 10.3390/life11060518
DO - 10.3390/life11060518
M3 - Article
C2 - 34204923
VL - 11
JO - Life
JF - Life
SN - 0024-3019
IS - 6
M1 - 518
ER -