Recently photoassimilated carbon and fungus-delivered nitrogen are spatially correlated in the ectomycorrhizal tissue of Fagus sylvatica.

ABSTRACT: Ectomycorrhizal plants trade plant-assimilated carbon for soil nutrients with their fungal partners. The underlying mechanisms, however, are not fully understood. Here we investigate the exchange of carbon for nitrogen in the ectomycorrhizal symbiosis of Fagus sylvatica across different spatial scales from the root system to the cellular level. We provided ¹⁵ N-labelled nitrogen to mycorrhizal hyphae associated with one half of the root system of young beech trees, while exposing plants to a ¹³ CO₂ atmosphere. We analysed the short-term distribution of ¹³ C and ¹⁵ N in the root system with isotope-ratio mass spectrometry, and at the cellular scale within a mycorrhizal root tip with nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS).

SUBMITTER: Mayerhofer W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9291818 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature