The hyphae of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) form bushy structures after making contact with the plasma membrane of a root cell. What is the function of these structures?
a. They anchor the fungus inside the root, so the association is more permanent.
b. They increase the surface area available for the transfer of nutrients.
c. They produce toxins that protect the plant cells against herbivores.
d. They break down cellulose and lignin in the plant cell wall.

Question

The hyphae of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) form bushy structures after making contact with the plasma membrane of a root cell. What is the function of these structures?

a. They anchor the fungus inside the root, so the association is more permanent.

b. They increase the surface area available for the transfer of nutrients.

c. They produce toxins that protect the plant cells against herbivores.

d. They break down cellulose and lignin in the plant cell wall.

Accepted Answer

Welcome back. Here's our next problem. Which of the following fungi form symbiotic relationships with plant roots by penetrating the cortical cells? Well we might recall from our content video that my core is a. Are symbiotic associations. Fun guy. And the roots of vascular plants. And this comes in two forms. Um Some penetrate the cortical cells and some do not penetrate the cortical cells of the roots. And the ones that do not penetrate form sheets of hi fi which are like filaments over the outside of the roots. So the associations that penetrate the cortical cells have two names. There either endo my core is A. Or our bus killer. My core is a. Our vascular is because they form little when they penetrate the cortical cells they form little structures called our best schools. The ones that do not penetrate are called ecto my course. But we're looking at our question for the ones that form these relationships by penetrating the cortical cells. So as we looked at that was both endo my quarrels of fungi and our bus killer my quarrels all fungi. But we see that we have an answer choice D. That's both B. And C. So that would be our correct answer. Ecto my chorizo are not our answer because they're ones that don't penetrate the cortical cells and these symbiotic associations are usually mutual ist IQ. The plant provides organic molecules like sugars that it supplies to the fungi and fungi supplies water and mineral nutrients to the plant roots. So once again which of the fungi form symbiotic relationship with plant roots by penetrating the cortical cells. And that's choice D both B and C. See you in the next video.

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Key Concepts

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF)

Arbuscules

Nutrient Exchange in Symbiosis