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Different types of microorganisms are usually studied in isolation from each other, sometimes in different university departments, however there is increasing evidence to suggest that direct interactions take place all the time and have important consequences for may biological processes.Many of the projects in our department involve interactions between different types of microorganisms. Some examples are given below.
Interactions between mycorrhizal and saprotrophic fungi may be important for cycling of nutrients and carbon in boreal forests. The competitive balance between these fungi may be disturbed during thinning or clear cutting of forest, by different types of biofuel harvesting – or even by the very act of sampling with a soil corer! |
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The picture to the right: Mobilisation of P in a system with a saprotrophic (bottom) and ectomycorrhizal (top) fungus visualised by electronic autoradiography (photo by Björn Lindahl).
Fungal-bacterial interactions may be involved in interactions of fungi with mineral or organic substrates, or with plants and have implications for biological control, decomposition, weathering of mineral substrates, or colonization by mycorrhizal symbionts.
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To the left: Fungal hyphae weathering minerals with attached bacteria (photo by Anna Rosling). To the right: GFP stained Bacillus cereus attached to arbuscular fungal hyphae (photo byJonas Toljander).
Plant-microbe interactions may play a significant role in tolerance of plants to drought and nutrient stress. Bacteria and fungi may play pivotal roles in biological control of plant pathogens, in plant growth stimulation or in plant tolerance of drought stress.
Plant growth can be stimulated by bacteria (photo by Saraswoti Nepuane).