Three-year pot culture of Epipactis helleborine reveals autotrophic survival, without mycorrhizal networks, in a mixotrophic species.

Some mixotrophic plants from temperate forests use the mycorrhizal fungi colonizing their roots as a carbon source to supplement their photosynthesis. These fungi are also mycorrhizal on surrounding trees, from which they transfer carbon to mixotrophic plants. These plants are thus reputed difficult to transplant, even when their protection requires it.

Thirteen New Plastid Genomes from Mixotrophic and Autotrophic Species Provide Insights into Heterotrophy Evolution in Neottieae Orchids.

Mixotrophic species use both organic and mineral carbon sources. Some mixotrophic plants combine photosynthesis and a nutrition called mycoheterotrophy, where carbon is obtained from fungi forming mycorrhizal symbiosis with their roots. These species can lose photosynthetic abilities and evolve full mycoheterotrophy.

The complete chloroplast genome sequence of (Orchidaceae).

Here, we report the first complete chloroplast genome of (Orchidaceae: Orchidoideae). The circular genome with the length of 154,260 bp possesses the typical structure consisting of a large single copy region (LSC) of 83,279 bp and a small single copy region (SSC) of 17,759 bp, separated from each other by two copies of inverted repeats (IRs) of 26,611 bp. The plastome encodes 134 genes, of which 88 were protein-coding, eight encoded ribosomal RNA, and 38 transfer RNAs.

In situ transcriptomic and metabolomic study of the loss of photosynthesis in the leaves of mixotrophic plants exploiting fungi.

Mycoheterotrophic plants have lost photosynthesis and obtain carbon through mycorrhizal fungi colonizing their roots. They are likely to have evolved from mixotrophic ancestors, which rely on both photosynthesis and fungal carbon for their development. Whereas our understanding of the ecological and genomic changes associated with the evolutionary shift to mycoheterotrophy is deepening, little information is known about the specific metabolic and physiological features driving this evolution.

Mycorrhizal Associations and Trophic Modes in Coexisting Orchids: An Ecological Continuum between Auto- and Mixotrophy.

Two distinct nutritional syndromes have been described in temperate green orchids. Most orchids form mycorrhizas with rhizoctonia fungi and are considered autotrophic. Some orchids, however, associate with fungi that simultaneously form ectomycorrhizas with surrounding trees and derive their carbon from these fungi.

Mixotrophy in Pyroleae (Ericaceae) from Estonian boreal forests does not vary with light or tissue age.

Background And Aims: In temperate forests, some green plants, namely pyroloids (Pyroleae, Ericaceae) and some orchids, independently evolved a mode of nutrition mixing photosynthates and carbon gained from their mycorrhizal fungi (mixotrophy). Fungal carbon is more enriched in 13C than photosynthates, allowing estimation of the proportion of carbon acquired heterotrophically from fungi in plant biomass. Based on 13C enrichment, mixotrophic orchids have previously been shown to increase shoot autotrophy level over the growth season and with environmental light availability.

Arginine vasotocin inhibits social interactions and enhances essential activities in male common lizards (Zootoca vivipara).

Arginine vasotocin (AVT) is known to play an important role in the regulation of social behavior in a number of vertebrate species. Nevertheless, the relationship between AVT and intraspecific interactions appears complex and in some cases contradictory. Moreover, AVT influences other behaviors, which are not primarily social including exploratory behavior, locomotion and thermoregulation.