Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 16, 2026
09:17
Investigation of Plant Interactions Across Common Mycorrhizal Networks Using Rotated Cores
Published on: March 26, 2019
Questioning the Evidence for Host-Symbiont Codiversification in Mycorrhizal Symbioses
Fantine Bodin1, Hélène Morlon1, Benoît Perez-Lamarque2
1Institut de Biologie de l'ENS (IBENS), École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, INSERM, Université PSL, 46 rue d'Ulm, 75005 Paris, France.
Molecular Biology and Evolution
|August 14, 2026
Summary
Plants and mycorrhizal fungi show a cophylogenetic signal, meaning related species interact. However, their evolutionary histories do not match, suggesting trait matching, not codiversification, drives these plant-fungal symbioses.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Mycology
Background:
- Mycorrhizal symbioses are crucial mutualistic plant-fungal interactions.
- Previous studies suggested plants and mycorrhizal fungi codiversify due to phylogenetic congruence.
- Cophylogenetic signal, where related species interact, is often conflated with codiversification.
Purpose of the Study:
- To reevaluate the evidence for codiversification in mycorrhizal symbioses.
- To distinguish between phylogenetic congruence and cophylogenetic signal in plant-fungal interactions.
- To investigate the macroevolutionary processes shaping mycorrhizal networks.
Main Methods:
- Performed cophylogenetic analyses on 29 diverse mycorrhizal networks.
- Examined interaction networks and phylogenetic trees of plants and fungi.
- Interpreted results based on the presence of phylogenetic congruence versus cophylogenetic signal.
Main Results:
- Found significant cophylogenetic signal across diverse mycorrhizal networks.
- Demonstrated a lack of phylogenetic congruence, indicating divergent evolutionary histories.
- Observed that closely related plants interact with closely related fungi, but phylogenies do not align.
Conclusions:
- The observed pattern is consistent with trait matching, not codiversification, in plant-mycorrhizal fungi symbioses.
- Evolutionarily conserved traits likely govern compatible interactions between plants and fungi.
- Previous evidence for codiversification in mycorrhizal symbioses likely represented cophylogenetic signal.
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