Commentary on the de Vega et al. (2010) paper on hyphae in the parasitic plant Cytinus: Mycorrhizal fungi growing within plants are not always mycorrhizal

摘要

The recent paper by de Vega et al. (2010) contains some interesting observations about fungi within a parasitic plant and its host, which they interpret as a novel three-way plant–plant–fungus association. However, their hypothesis is not conclusively supported by the data presented, and other interpretations of their observations are possible. This is not surprising as it is relatively common for problems to arise with the identification and interpretation of putative arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in nonhost plants (Brundrett, 2009). Contentious issues that arise from the paper are listed below.