
Marc SelosseMuséum National d'Histoire Naturelle · Department of Systematics and Evolution
Marc Selosse
Professor
About
606
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Introduction
Professor at Museum national d'Histoire naturelle, and at Universities of Gdansk (Poland) and Viçosa (Brazil). interested in symbioses, especially the mycorrhizal symbiosis. All papers online (incl. outreach) at http://isyeb.mnhn.fr/Marc-Andre-SELOSSE
Additional affiliations
January 2012 - present
January 2012 - present
Publications
Publications (606)
Thin sections of petrified fossils made during the latter part of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to investigate the internal tissue systems of plants now provide an important new source of information on associated microorganisms. We report a new heterokont eukaryote (Combresomyces williamsonii sp. nov.) based on exquisitely preserved...
The functional similarity between root and gut microbiota, both contributing to the nutrition and protection of the host, is often overlooked. A central mechanism for efficient protection against pathogens is defense priming, the preconditioning of immunity induced by microbial colonization after germination or birth. Microbiota have been recruited...
Characterizing the architecture of bipartite networks is increasingly used as a framework to study biotic interactions within their ecological context and to assess the extent to which evolutionary constraint shape them. Orchid mycorrhizal symbioses are particularly interesting as they are viewed as more beneficial for plants than for fungi, a situ...
Mycoheterotrophic orchids have adapted to shaded forest understory by shifting to achlorophylly and receiving carbon from their mycorrhizal fungi. In temperate forests, they associate in a highly specific way with fungi forming ectomycorrhizas on nearby trees, and exploiting tree photosynthates. However, many rainforests lack ectomycorrhizal fungi,...
The mycorrhizal fungi of cultivated Vanilla spp. have mainly been studied in America, while a recent study has investigated them on Réunion Island (Indian Ocean). However, there are many different types of cultivation on Réunion, from shade-house crops to forest farms of endemic or exotic trees. Here we fill a gap in the study of the root mycobiome...
Coccoloba uvifera L. (Polygonacaeae), named also seagrape, is an ectomycorrhizal (ECM) Caribbean beach tree, introduced pantropically for stabilizing coastal soils and producing edible fruits. This review covers the pantropical distribution and micropropagation of seagrape as well as genetic diversity, functional traits and use of ECM symbioses in...
In nature, microbes do not thrive in seclusion but are involved in complex interactions within- and between-microbial kingdoms. Among these, symbiotic associations with mycorrhizal fungi and nitrogen-fixing bacteria are namely known to improve plant health, while providing resources to benefit other microbial members. Yet, it is not clear how these...
Pyrola japonica, a member of the family Ericaceae, is a mixotroph that grows on forest floors and obtains carbon (C) from both its photosynthesis and its mycorrhizal fungi. Its mycorrhizal community is dominated by Russulaceae. However, the mechanism of its C acquisition and its flexibility are not well understood. Our aim was to assess the impact...
Plants host diverse communities of fungi (the mycobiota), playing crucial roles in their development. The assembly processes of the mycobiota, however, remain poorly understood, in particular, whether it is transmitted by parents through the seeds (vertical transmission) or recruited in the environment (horizontal transmission). Here we attempt to...
Lichen thalli host complex microbial communities, which may foster the ecological stability and longevity of the lichen symbiosis. Yet, we lack a holistic understanding of the processes contributing to the assembly of the lichen holobiont. This study assessed the diversity and community structure in taxonomically diverse co-occurring lichens associ...
La truffe noire (Tuber melanosporum Vittad.) est un champignon ectomycorhizien endémique du bassin méditerranéen, qui fut cueilli jusqu’au 19ème siècle puis peu à peu cultivé sur des terres agricoles. C’est lors du siècle dernier que le modèle de production a progressivement évolué, passant d’un modèle forestier et paysan à un modèle arboricole int...
Main conclusion
Emblematic Vachellia spp. naturally exposed to hyper-arid conditions, intensive grazing, and parasitism maintain a high nitrogen content and functional mutualistic nitrogen-fixing symbioses.
Abstract
AlUla region in Saudi Arabia has a rich history regarding mankind, local wildlife, and fertility islands suitable for leguminous spec...
Soil microbiota plays a fundamental role in nutrient cycles and plant fitness. However, the response of bacterial and fungal communities interacting with plants to an increase in the water regime in natural ecosystems has yet to be extensively studied. To address this matter, we studied the response of rhizospheric and root endophytic microbial com...
Mycorrhizal symbioses (mycorrhizas) of Ericaceae, including ericoid mycorrhiza (ErM), have been mainly studied in the Northern Hemisphere, although the highest diversity of ericaceous plants is located in the Southern Hemisphere, where several regions remain largely unexplored. One of them is South America, which harbors a remarkably high diversity...
Soil microbial communities are complex and dynamic, and their composition is jointly driven by niche and neutral processes. Otherwise, the assembly processes of these communities are known to be influenced by both biotic and abiotic factors, yet the extent to which past events could explain their contemporary composition remains unclear, particular...
In nature, microbes do not thrive in seclusion but are involved in complex interactions within- and between-microbial kingdoms. Among these, symbiotic associations with mycorrhizal fungi and nitrogen-fixing bacteria are namely known to improve plant health, while providing resources to benefit other microbial members. Yet, it is not clear how these...
In nature, microbes do not thrive in seclusion but are involved in complex interactions within- and between-microbial kingdoms. Among these, symbiotic associations with mycorrhizal fungi and nitrogen-fixing bacteria are namely known to improve plant health, while providing resources to benefit other microbial members. Yet, it is not clear how these...
We have investigated whether mycobiont identity and environmental conditions affect morphology and physiology of the chlorophyllous orchid: Cremastra variabilis. This species grows in a broad range of environmental conditions and associates with saprotrophic rhizoctonias including Tulasnellaceae and saprotrophic non-rhizoctonian fungi from the fami...
Ectomycorrhizal (EcM) fungi play key roles in ecosystem functioning, in particular temperate ones. Recent findings suggest that they can endophytically colonize the roots of non-EcM plants. Here we aim at (i) providing new evidence of colonization of non-EcM hosts by EcM fungi, (ii) exploring factors driving such colonization (plant identity, site,...
The orchid family (Orchidaceae) is one of the most diverse plant families in the world, but at the same time also contains one of the largest number of rare and endangered species. While conservation actions such as in situ and ex situ conservation and prohibition of international trade of wild orchids have achieved positive results to slow down th...
Pyrola japonica , an Ericaceae, is a mixotroph growing on forest floors, obtaining carbon (C) from both photosynthetic and root-associated mycorrhizal fungal pathways. The mycorrhizal community structures of the plant are well characterised and are dominated by Russulaceae fungi. However, the mechanism of its C acquisition is not well understood. T...
Societal Impact Statement
Vanilla is one of the most valuable spices in the world. In Madagascar and La Réunion, the world's leading producers, vanilla is of great economic and cultural importance. Like all orchids, vanilla plants associate with mycorrhizal fungi in their roots forming mutualistic associations that allow them to grow and thrive. Un...
Human activities have affected the surrounding natural ecosystems, including belowground microorganisms, for millennia. Their short‐ and medium‐term effects on the diversity and the composition of soil microbial communities are well‐documented, but their lasting effects remain unknown. When unoccupied for centuries, archaeological sites are appropr...
Growing pressure from climate change and agricultural land use is destabilizing soil microbial community interactions. Yet little is known about microbial community resistance and adaptation to disturbances over time. This hampers our ability to determine the recovery latency of microbial interactions after disturbances, with fundamental implicatio...
The distribution of plant communities in hot desert ecosystems is discontinuous and resembles the pattern of heterogeneous resource patches, known as “fertility islands”. Understanding the key factors that allow plants to establish in these conditions, as well as their associated microbial diversity, is crucial to the comprehension and preservation...
The fen orchid (Liparis loeselii (L.) Rich., 1817), specific to calcareous wetlands, is threatened by its habitat degradation and disappearance. It is thus categorised as endangered in the Rhône-Alpes red list and is nationally protected in France. Although many studies have been conducted about Liparis loeselii var. ovata ecology in the coastal zo...
Background
Mycorrhiza is a ubiquitous form of symbiosis based on the mutual, beneficial exchange of resources between roots of autotrophic (AT) plants and heterotrophic soil fungi throughout a complex network of fungal mycelium. Mycoheterotrophic (MH) and mixotrophic (MX) plants can parasitise this system, gaining all or some (respectively) require...
Plants host diverse communities of fungi (collectively called the mycobiota) which play crucial roles in their development. The assembly processes of the mycobiota, however, remain poorly understood, in particular, whether it is transmitted by parents through the seeds (vertical transmission) or recruited in the environment (horizontal transmission...
Cyanobacteria have a long evolutionary history, well documented in marine rocks. They are also abundant and diverse in terrestrial environments; however, although phylogenies suggest that the group colonized land early in its history, paleontological documentation of this remains limited. The Rhynie chert (407 Ma), our best preserved record of earl...
Mycorrhizae are ubiquitous symbioses established between fungi and plant roots. Orchids, in particular, require compatible mycorrhizal fungi for seed germination and protocorm development. Unlike arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, which have wide host ranges, orchid mycorrhizal fungi are often highly specific to their host orchids. However, the molecula...
Background and Aims
Historical changes in environmental conditions and colonization-extinction dynamics have a direct impact on the genetic structure of plant populations. However, understanding how past environmental conditions influenced the evolution of species with high gene flow is challenging when signals for genetic isolation and adaptation...
Termites have co-evolved with a complex gut microbiota consisting mostly of exclusive resident taxa, but key forces sustaining this exclusive partnership are still poorly understood. The potential for primary reproductives to vertically transmit their gut microbiota (mycobiome and bacteriome) to offspring was investigated using colony foundations f...
Background
The root mycobiome plays a fundamental role in plant nutrition and protection against biotic and abiotic stresses. In temperate forests or meadows dominated by angiosperms, the numerous fungi involved in root symbioses are often shared between neighboring plants, thus forming complex plant-fungus interaction networks of weak specializati...
Research commentary about the paper: Selosse MA, Petrolli R, Mujica MI, et al. 2022. The Waiting Room Hypothesis revisited by orchids: were orchid mycorrhizal fungi recruited among root endophytes? Ann Bot 129:259–270. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcab134.
Lycopodiaceae species form an early‐diverging plant family, characterized by achlorophyllous and subterranean gametophytes that rely on mycorrhizal fungi for their nutrition. Lycopodiaceae often emerge after a disturbance, like in the Hochfeld reserve (Alsace, France) where seven lycopod species appeared on new ski trails following a forest cut. He...
Whether interactions between species are conserved on evolutionary time-scales has spurred the development of both correlative and process-based approaches for testing phylogenetic signal in interspecific interactions: do closely related species interact with similar partners? Here we use simulations to test the statistical performances of the two...
The black truffle Tuber melanosporum was disseminated all over the world, propelled by the development of a wide variety of empirical practices. A widespread practice, called ‘truffle trap’, consists of placing pieces of truffles into excavations dug under host trees, and of collecting truffle in these traps in the next years. This research aims at...
In soils, plants and fungi can form complex mycorrhizal networks allowing nutrient transfers between plant individuals and species. It is less clear, however, whether such networks exist on the bark of trees where epiphytic plant communities thrive in rainforests. Previous work showed that tropical epiphytic orchids especially, harbour symbiotic fu...
This account provides information on all aspects of the biology of Neottia nidus‐avis (L.) Rich. (Bird's‐nest Orchid) that are relevant to understanding its ecological characteristics and behaviour. The main topics are presented within the standard framework of the Biological Flora of Britain and Ireland: distribution, habitat, communities, respons...
Background
The root mycobiome plays a fundamental role in plant nutrition and protection against biotic and abiotic stresses. In temperate forests or meadows dominated by angiosperms, the numerous fungi involved in root symbioses are often shared between neighboring plants, thus forming complex plant-fungus interaction networks of weak specializati...
Ectomycorrhizal and ericoid fungi are increasingly recognized for their capacity to break down soil organic matter and getting access to organic nitrogen (N). In many forest ecosystems proteins complexed by plant-produced tannins constitute a substantial amount of organic N. Yet, it is currently unknown to what extent these N sources are accessible...
Analyzing diversification dynamics is key to understanding the past evolutionary history of clades that led to present‐day biodiversity patterns. While such analyses are widespread in well‐characterized groups of species, they are much more challenging in groups which diversity is mostly known through molecular techniques. Here, we use the largest...
Orchids highly rely on mycorrhizal fungi for seed germination, and compatible fungi could effectively promote germination up to seedlings, while incompatible fungi may stimulate germination but do not support subsequent seedling development. In this study, we compared the fungal colonization process among two compatible and two incompatible fungi d...
Some plants abandoned photosynthesis and developed full dependency on fungi for nutrition. Most of the so-called mycoheterotrophic plants exhibit high specificity towards their fungal partners. We tested whether natural rarity of mycoheterotrophic plants and usual small and fluctuating population size make their populations more prone to genetic di...
Interaction between plants and their microbiota is a central theme to understand adaptation of plants to their environment. Considering herbaria as repositories of holobionts that preserved traces of ancient plant-associated microbial communities, we propose to explore these historical collections to evaluate the impact of long-lasting global chang...
Background
As in most land plants, the roots of orchids (Orchidaceae) associate with soil fungi. Recent studies have highlighted the diversity of fungal partners involved, mostly within Basidiomycotas. The association with a polyphyletic group of fungi collectively called rhizoctonias (Ceratobasidiaceae, Tulasnellaceae and Serendipitaceae) is the m...
Aquatic Embryophytes play a key role in the proper functioning of aquatic ecosystems, where carbon (inorganic and organic forms) is pivotal in biogeochemical processes. There is growing awareness that mixotrophy, the direct use of exogenous organic carbon by autotrophs, is a widespread phenomenon and that it has emerged recurrently in the evolution...
A bstract
Whether interactions between species are conserved on evolutionary time-scales has spurred the development of both correlative and process-based approaches for testing phylogenetic signal in interspecific interactions: do closely related species interact with similar partners? Here we use simulations to test the statistical performances o...
Mixotrophy (MX, also called partial mycoheterotrophy) in plants is characterized by isotopic abundances that differ from those of autotrophs. Previous studies have evaluated mycoheterotrophy in MX plants associated with fungi of similar ecological characteristics, but little is known about the differences in the relative abundances of 13C and 15N i...
Approximately 10% of vascular plants are epiphytes and, even though this has long been ignored in past research, are able to interact with a variety of fungi, including mycorrhizal taxa. However, the structure of fungal communities on bark, as well as their relationship with epiphytic plants, is largely unknown.
To fill this gap, we conducted envir...
Orchids are among the most endangered in the plant kingdom. Lack of endosperm in their seeds renders orchids to depend on nutrients provided by orchid mycorrhizal fungi (OMF) for seed germination and seedling formation in the wild. OMF that parasitize in germination seeds is an essential element for orchid seedling formation, which can also help or...
Mycoheterotrophic plants have lost the ability to photosynthesize and obtain essential mineral and organic nutrients from associated soil fungi. Despite involving radical changes in life history traits and ecological requirements, the transition from autotrophy to mycoheterotrophy has occurred independently in many major lineages of land plants, mo...
Orchids form mycorrhizal symbioses with fungi in natural habitats that affect their seed germination, protocorm growth, and adult nutrition. An increasing number of studies indicates how orchids gain mineral nutrients and sometime even organic compounds from interactions with orchid mycorrhizal fungi (OMF). Thus, OMF exhibit a high diversity and pl...
Orchid distribution and population dynamics are influenced by a variety of ecological factors and the formation of holobionts, which play key roles in colonization and ecological community construction. Seed germination, seedling establishment, reproduction, and survival of orchid species are strongly dependent on orchid mycorrhizal fungi (OMF), wi...
Truffles in the genus Tuber produce subterranean fruiting bodies that are not able to actively discharge their spores in the environment. For this reason, truffles depend on mycophagous animals for reproduction. Fungus consumption (mycophagy) is a behaviour typical of both vertebrates and invertebrates. Mammals, especially rodents, are the most stu...
335–330 million-year-old cherts from the Massif Central, France, contain exceptionally well-preserved remains of an early forest ecosystem, including plants, fungi and other microorganisms. Here we reinvestigate the original material prepared by Renault and Roche from collections of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, and present a re-...
Host-microbe interactions play crucial roles in marine ecosystems. However, we still have very little understanding of the mechanisms that govern these relationships, the evolutionary processes that shape them, and their ecological consequences. The holobiont concept is a renewed paradigm in biology that can help to describe and understand these co...
Partial mycoheterotrophy, the ability of plants to obtain carbon from fungi throughout their life cycle in combination with photosynthesis, appears to be more common within the Plant Kingdom than previously anticipated. Recent studies using stable isotope analyses have indicated that isotope signatures in partially mycoheterotrophic plants vary wid...
Mixotrophic plants obtain carbon by their own photosynthetic activity and from their root-associated mycorrhizal fungi. Mixotrophy is deemed a pre-adaptation for evolution of mycoheterotrophic nutrition, where plants fully depend on fungi and lose their photosynthetic activity. The aim of this study was to clarify mycorrhizal dependency and heterot...
Fungi have crucial roles in modern ecosystems as decomposers and pathogens, and they engage in various mutualistic associations with other organisms, especially plants. They have a lengthy geological history, and there is an emerging understanding of their impact on the evolution of Earth systems on a large scale. In this Review, we focus on the ro...
Little is known about the soil factors influencing root-associated fungal communities in Orchidaceae. Limited evidence suggests that soil nutrients may modulate the association with orchid mycorrhizal fungi (OMF), but their influence on non-mycorrhizal fungi remains unexplored. To study how nutrient availability affects mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhi...