Sir
You are showing your zoocentric side with your description on the In This Issue page of the rarity of three-way symbioses (“Ménage a trois”, Nature 411, xi; 2001). This sort of arrangement is not so rare among plants: for example, leguminous plants with mycorrhizal associations — see Lichen Biology (ed. T. Nash III, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1996). An even more intimate relationship exists among a number of tripartite lichens, where a composite organism is formed through the symbiosis of an ascomycete, a chlorophytic alga and a cyanobacterium. This association can be so specific that, from a practical standpoint, at least two of the individual partners may not exist outside the symbiotic relationship.
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Thomas, M. When three's not a crowd. Nature 412, 375 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35086619
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35086619