Ectomycorrhizal fungi decompose soil organic matter using oxidative mechanisms adapted from saprotrophic ancestors.

ABSTRACT: Ectomycorrhizal fungi are thought to have a key role in mobilizing organic nitrogen that is trapped in soil organic matter (SOM). However, the extent to which ectomycorrhizal fungi decompose SOM and the mechanism by which they do so remain unclear, considering that they have lost many genes encoding lignocellulose-degrading enzymes that are present in their saprotrophic ancestors. Spectroscopic analyses and transcriptome profiling were used to examine the mechanisms by which five species of ectomycorrhizal fungi, representing at least four origins of symbiosis, decompose SOM extracted from forest soils. In the presence of glucose and when acquiring nitrogen, all species converted the organic matter in the SOM extract using oxidative mechanisms. The transcriptome expressed during oxidative

SUBMITTER: Shah F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5061094 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature