symbioses – Science Blog der Uni Bremen

How a Single-Celled Organism Finds its Way From the Sea Into Outer Space

Imagine you are living under the sea. You see the suns rays shining through the water. There is sand beneath you. The water flows around you to the rhythm of the wave – and you sway with it (see Fig. 1). Everything feels very pleasant. You are thinking how wonderful your home is. The waves, the light – everything is perfect.

But suddenly a dark shadow looms over you – and this shadow takes you out of this paradise and catapults you into space! Isn’t that a disturbing and rather improbable idea?

But that is in fact my story.

by Vivienne Vent

Fig. 1: Fungi can live as pathogens as well as in a mutualistic relationship with various other species. An example of such mutualistic interaction are lichens. Photo: ©Vivienne Vent 2021

Eatable, inedible, deadly. Tiny and of enormous size. Hardly any life form is as diverse as that of the fungi. Neither they can be called animals nor plants, they form their own taxon amongst the living organisms. Even though, they are a big part of our nutrition, we barely know how complex these organisms actually are. For example, did you know that the planets biggest living organism is in fact a fungus? Or did you know that fungi made the evolution of many life forms on earth possible by establishing complex interactions aka symbioses? Find out more about these fascinating organisms!

Tag: symbioses

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