Study
Niche engineering demonstrates a latent capacity for fungal-algal mutualism
Hom, Erik F. Y.; Murray, Andrew W.
Science, 2014
A yeast and a green alga with no natural association were grown together under conditions where each lacked something the other produced — the alga short of a carbon source, the yeast short of usable nitrogen — with gas exchange between them possible. Growth of each was compared against monocultures and across nutrient regimes, and further fungal and algal species were tested in the same design.
- Studied in
- Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
- Sample size
- co-cultures across nutrient conditions and species pairings
Under those conditions the two organisms grew together where neither grew alone, exchanging carbon dioxide and nitrogenous compounds. The interaction formed readily and recurred across several other fungal and algal pairings.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
The capacity for mutualism between fungi and algae can be latent, requiring only the right environmental conditions rather than a long shared evolutionary history.
How NatureHQ reads it
The most surprising record in this family, because it inverts the usual direction of study. Mutualisms are normally found and then described, and the implicit assumption is that a relationship this close must have taken a long coevolutionary history to build. Here two organisms that had never met became mutually dependent within an experiment, because the environment made each one’s waste the other’s requirement. It does not explain how any real lichen arose. It does show that the starting conditions are less demanding than anybody assumed.
- Laboratory conditions engineered to make the exchange necessary; nothing shows such conditions are common.
- A facultative laboratory association is not a lichen, which involves structural integration this experiment does not produce.
Building a partnership that never existed
Close mutualisms are assumed to need a long shared history. How much of one does it actually take to get started?
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Published by: American Association for the Advancement of SciencePublished in Science or Science Advances (AAAS).
doi.org/10.1126/science.1253320
Checked against Crossref on 2026-09-28, and they agree on the title, the authors and the year.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-09-04.