Fungal ecology articles within Nature Communications

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Challenges in obtaining empirical trait data hinder the development of trait-based frameworks for soil microbes. Here, the authors analyse traits of saprobic fungal isolates from a grassland site to propose a fungal economics spectrum, suggesting a general trait framework for soil fungi.

    • Tessa Camenzind
    • , Carlos A. Aguilar-Trigueros
    •  & Matthias C. Rillig

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Anaerobic gut fungi are a functionally important component of mammalian herbivores’ microbiomes. Here, the authors surveys anaerobic gut fungi in 34 species of ruminants and hindgut fermenters, assessing their patterns and identifying 56 novel genera.

    • Casey H. Meili
    • , Adrienne L. Jones
    •  & Mostafa S. Elshahed

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, Seelbinder et al. show high Candida levels in cancer patients’ stool to correlate with greater metabolically flexibility but less robust bacterial communities and, combined with machine learning models to predict Candida levels from bacterial data, suggest that lactate producing bacteria may fuel Candida overgrowth in the gut during dysbiosis.

    • Bastian Seelbinder
    • , Zoltan Lohinai
    •  & Gianni Panagiotou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The genomes of filamentous fungi, such as Aspergillus, include many biosynthetic gene clusters of unknown function. Here, the authors show that copper starvation induces expression of an enzyme that generates a valine-derived isocyanide participating in two different pathways, for biosynthesis of acylated sugar alcohols and modified ergot alkaloids.

    • Tae Hyung Won
    • , Jin Woo Bok
    •  & Frank C. Schroeder

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, via metagenomics and ITS2 sequencing analysis of children's stool samples from three months to four years, the authors show that the fungal composition changes and relative abundance increases at weaning, but unlike bacteria, the overall levels of fungal diversity do not change substantially over time.

    • Thomas A. Auchtung
    • , Christopher J. Stewart
    •  & Joseph F. Petrosino

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Methyl salicylate ester is a plant metabolite involved in plant-insect and plant-plant interactions. Here, Yu et al. show that a nematode-trapping fungus has potential to produce a related compound, 6-methyl salicylate, which attracts its prey (nematodes) and modulates spore germination and trap formation in the fungus.

    • Xi Yu
    • , Xiaodi Hu
    •  & Reinhard Fischer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Soil-borne fungal pathogens use chemotropism and extracellular pH alkalinisation to reach and penetrate plant roots. Here, Palmieri et al. show that soil endophytic bacteria swim along fungal hyphae to colonize plant roots and protect host plants by modulating the pH of the rhizosphere.

    • Davide Palmieri
    • , Stefania Vitale
    •  & David Turrà

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Lipo-chitooligosaccharides (LCOs) are signaling molecules produced by certain bacteria and fungi that establish symbiotic relationships with plants. Here, the authors show that LCOs are produced also by many other, non-symbiotic fungi, and regulate fungal growth and development.

    • Tomás Allen Rush
    • , Virginie Puech-Pagès
    •  & Jean-Michel Ané

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The ecological niche of host-associated microbes is defined by both abiotic and biotic dimensions. Here the authors analyse published data on fungal and oomycete pathogens of plants, demonstrating that specialization can evolve independently on abiotic and biotic axes and that interactions with host plants reduce thermal niche breadth.

    • Thomas M. Chaloner
    • , Sarah J. Gurr
    •  & Daniel P. Bebber

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Fungal community assembly on crop plants is thought to be driven by deterministic selection exerted by the host. Here Gao et al. use a sorghum system to show that stochastic forces act on fungal community assembly in leaves and roots early in host development and when sorghum is drought stressed.

    • Cheng Gao
    • , Liliam Montoya
    •  & John W. Taylor

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors assemble and analyse previously generated mycobiome data linked to geographical locations across the world. They describe the distribution of fungal taxa and show that climate is an important driver of fungal biogeography and that fungal diversity appears to be concentrated at high latitudes.

    • Tomáš Větrovský
    • , Petr Kohout
    •  & Petr Baldrian

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It is thought that fungi protect themselves from predators by the production of toxic compounds. Here, Xu et al. show that a wide range of animal predators avoid feeding on Fusarium fungi, and this depends on fungal production of a bis-naphthopyrone pigment that is not toxic to the predators.

    • Yang Xu
    • , Maria Vinas
    •  & Petr Karlovsky

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The functions of color in fungi are not well characterized. Here, Krah and colleagues investigate the color of mushroom assemblages across Europe and show relationships with climate, nutritional mode (saprotrophic and ectomycorrhizal) and seasonality.

    • Franz-Sebastian Krah
    • , Ulf Büntgen
    •  & Claus Bässler

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Soil fungi play essential roles in ecosystems worldwide. Here, the authors sequence and analyze 235 soil samples collected from across the globe, and identify dominant fungal taxa and their associated environmental attributes.

    • Eleonora Egidi
    • , Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo
    •  & Brajesh K. Singh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The maintenance of bacterial and fungal activity is essential for ecosystem functioning, particularly in dry soils where the two phyla co-exist. Here, Worrich and colleagues show experimentally that mycelia traffic water and nutrients and thereby stimulate bacterial activity in stressful conditions.

    • Anja Worrich
    • , Hryhoriy Stryhanyuk
    •  & Lukas Y. Wick

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The endophytic fungusMetarhizium robertsiiis also an insect pathogen and can facilitate transfer of insect-derived nitrogen to host plants. Here, the authors show that carbon is transferred from plant to fungus suggesting a tripartite interaction where nitrogen is exchanged for photosynthate.

    • Scott W. Behie
    • , Camila C. Moreira
    •  & Michael J. Bidochka

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cells of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiaecan mate with other cells of opposite mating type. Here, the authors show that the combination of a pheromone and a pheromone-degrading enzyme allows yeast cells to monitor relative mate abundance within a population and adjust their commitment to sexual reproduction.

    • Alvaro Banderas
    • , Mihaly Koltai
    •  & Victor Sourjik

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ecological communities consist of complex networks of interacting species whose linkages may be difficult to follow. Using next-generation sequencing, Toju et al.uncover the architecture of a plant-fungus network and find clear structural differences when compared with other communities.

    • Hirokazu Toju
    • , Paulo R. Guimarães
    •  & John N. Thompson

  • Article |

    Plant species share a core metabolome, however the extent to which metabolic responses to environmental cues are also conserved remains unclear. Schweiger et al.describe shifts in the leaf metabolomes of five plant species during mycorrhizal fungal infection, and uncover high species-specificity.

    • Rabea Schweiger
    • , Markus C. Baier
    •  & Caroline Müller

Browse broader subjects

Browse Fungal ecology across other nature.com journals