Hartig net is a network of inward-growing
hyphae
A hypha (; ) is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. In most fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium.
Structure
A hypha consists of one or ...
, that extends into the
root
In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the sur ...
, penetrating between the epidermis and cortex of
ectomycorrhiza
An ectomycorrhiza (from Greek ἐκτός ', "outside", μύκης ', "fungus", and ῥίζα ', "root"; pl. ectomycorrhizas or ectomycorrhizae, abbreviated EcM) is a form of symbiotic relationship that occurs between a fungal symbiont, or mycobi ...
l plants. This network is a site of nutrient exchange between the
fungus
A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from th ...
and the host
plant
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...
. The Hartig net is one of the three components required for
ectomycorrhizal
An ectomycorrhiza (from Greek ἐκτός ', "outside", μύκης ', "fungus", and ῥίζα ', "root"; pl. ectomycorrhizas or ectomycorrhizae, abbreviated EcM) is a form of symbiotic relationship that occurs between a fungal symbiont, or mycobi ...
roots to form as part of
ectomycorrhizal symbiosis with the host tree or plant.
The Hartig net is named after
Theodor Hartig
Theodor Hartig (21 February 1805 – 26 March 1880) was a German forestry biologist and botanist.
Biography
Hartig was born in Dillenburg. He was educated in Berlin (1824–1827), and was successively lecturer and professor of forestry at the Univ ...
, a 19th-century German forest biologist and botanist. He reported research in 1842 on the
anatomy
Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...
of the interface between ectomycorrhizal fungi and tree roots.
The Hartig net supplies chemical elements required for plant growth, such as potassium, and provides compounds, such as nitrate, used in combination with the ectomycorrhizal symbiosis for farmable crops, as well as certain kinds of lichens. Part of its role in mutualistic interactions is based on the chemicals it provides, as well as it being essential for bi-directional nutritional uptake, which has shown to help defend the fungi from heavy metal damage,
[ Shi, W, Zhang, Y, Chen, S, Polle, A, Rennenberg, H, Luo, Z‐B. Physiological and molecular mechanisms of heavy metal accumulation in nonmycorrhizal versus mycorrhizal plants. Plant Cell Environ. 2019; 42: 1087– 1103. https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.13471 ] amongst other benefits.
See also
*
Mycorrhiza
A mycorrhiza (from Greek μύκης ', "fungus", and ῥίζα ', "root"; pl. mycorrhizae, mycorrhiza or mycorrhizas) is a symbiotic association between a fungus and a plant. The term mycorrhiza refers to the role of the fungus in the plant ...
References
Plant roots
Soil biology
Symbiosis
Fungal morphology and anatomy
{{mycology-stub