Abstract
The prevalence and potential functions of common mycorrhizal networks, or the ‘wood-wide web’, resulting from the simultaneous interaction of mycorrhizal fungi and roots of different neighbouring plants have been increasingly capturing the interest of science and society, sometimes leading to hyperbole and misinterpretation. Several recent reviews conclude that popular claims regarding the widespread nature of these networks in forests and their role in the transfer of resources and information between plants lack evidence. Here we argue that mycoheterotrophic plants associated with ectomycorrhizal or arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi require resource transfer through common mycorrhizal networks and thus are natural evidence for the occurrence and function of these networks, offering a largely overlooked window into this methodologically challenging underground phenomenon. The wide evolutionary and geographic distribution of mycoheterotrophs and their interactions with a broad phylogenetic range of mycorrhizal fungi indicate that common mycorrhizal networks are prevalent, particularly in forests, and result in net carbon transfer among diverse plants through shared mycorrhizal fungi. On the basis of the available scientific evidence, we propose a continuum of carbon transfer options within common mycorrhizal networks, and we discuss how knowledge on the biology of mycoheterotrophic plants can be instrumental for the study of mycorrhizal-mediated transfers between plants.
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Acknowledgements
V.S.F.T.M. thanks the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 101045057). S.I.F.G. thanks the Novo Nordisk Foundation (Silva Nova; grant no. NNF20OC0059948). M.I.B. thanks the Leverhulme Research Centre for the Holobiont.
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The focus of this Perspective was conceived by all the authors. V.S.F.T.M. led the writing, with contributions from S.I.F.G., D.W., C.V., H.J., F.E.Z., G.G. and M.I.B.
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Merckx, V.S.F.T., Gomes, S.I.F., Wang, D. et al. Mycoheterotrophy in the wood-wide web. Nat. Plants (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-024-01677-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-024-01677-0