Researchers have discovered a new type of coexistence between algae and fungi

https://phys.org/news/2023-02-coexistence-algae-fungi.html

by webmaven • 3 years ago

107 16 3 years ago

contingo2• 3 years ago

I'm skeptical that this discovery amounts to a "new type of coexistence". Fungi that are facultatively lichenized (having growth forms that include or exclude algae) have been known about for a long time, as have various stages of sophistication of the lichenized condition. I can find references dating back to at least the 1980s that describe various kinds of facultative lichenization. The authors' insistence that the symbiosis is not a lichen just because the mycobiont (fungal partner) has a free-living form is suspect: previous literature makes no such distinction. The relevant distinction here is not between lichen vs. non-lichen, but facultative vs. obligate lichenization. The observation that the mycobiont can be free-living and "does not depend on its alga for nourishment" does not imply that it doesn't derive nourishment from its algal partner once the partnership is established.

There's no major news here that I can see. The main value of this research is simply that it provides the first description of facultative lichenization occurring in a particular group of under-studied fungi (corticioid basidiomycetes).

hinkley2• 3 years ago

I’m coming around to the notion that fungi have been farming for about a billion years, and just get better at it.

And that temperate forest trees are basically multicellular lichen.

sethammons2• 3 years ago

Check out the documentary The Secret Lives of Trees. Blew my mind.

TheRealPomax2• 3 years ago

I'd certainly consider "describing a real example of a hitherto conjectured form of symbiosis" news enough. Publications aren't only for major news, the vast majority are "just news". This is a new thing, it's worth writing about. Whether this still qualifies as a lichen and we just need to update the canon around lichens, or whether this needs a new name because it behaves fundamentally different from how we understand lichen is entirely up for debate, and not one that this research tries to answer.

contingo2• 3 years ago

But it's not a "hitherto conjectured form of symbiosis". It's just another example of facultative lichenization, which has already been observed in species quite widely scattered across the fungal kingdom. That to me doesn't count as a "new type of coexistence". The actual research behind the headline is valuable and entirely worthy of publication (I've made similar contributions myself), my critique relates to the headline, the angle of the reportage.

barbazoo• 3 years ago

I'm still reading but so far I'm lichen it.

defrost• 3 years ago

Sadly:

    We discovered that this is a close symbiosis of fungi and algae, not a lichen, though, because the fungus does not depend on its alga for nourishment.

As they say, That's the ..

https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20220360

graderjs• 3 years ago

Also:

  The new term introduced by the researchers for this type of coexistence, "alcobiosis," is formed by letters from the three key words: algae, corticioid fungi and symbiosis.

I prefer falgosis, but... whatever.

Also:

  "And so the main unknown still is in what way this symbiosis is beneficial for each of the partners."

It's probably immune system--as in the algae help the funghi fend off predators/pathogens; or, binding, as in the algae secrete a substance that makes it easier for the funghi to attach to or burrow through the surfaces.

canadiantim• 3 years ago

You must be a real fungi at parties

webmaven• 3 years ago

Depends on how much algal I'm drinking.

Researchers have discovered a new type of coexistence between algae and fungi

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