Plant root with endomycorrhiza, SEM
Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a freeze-fracture preparation of a grass plant root with endomycorrhiza (light grey). A mycorrhiza is an association between a soil fungus and the roots of a vascular plant. The majority of vascular plant roots are mycorrhizal. Endomycorrhizal fungi grow within cell walls of the root. Both organisms benefit from this association. The fungus is able to access nutrient forms unavailable to the plant, process them and pass them on to the roots. The mass of fungal hyphae also provide a large surface area for the uptake of water and minerals. The fungus receives carbon compounds that the plant produces via photosynthesis. Magnification: x700 when printed at 15cm wide.
Size: 6400px × 5519px
Location:
Photo credit: © EYE OF SCIENCE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -, arbuscular, biological, biology, botanical, botany, coloured, cross-section, electron, endomycorrhiza, endomycorrhizal, eumycota, false-coloured, flora, fractured, freeze, freeze-fracture, fungal, fungi, fungus, grass, hyphae, microbiological, microbiology, micrograph, microscopy, mutualism, mutualistic, mycology, mycorrhiza, mycorrhizal, nature, plant, root, roots, scanning, section, sectioned, sem, symbiont, symbionts, symbiosis, symbiotic
