荷兰AMOLF研究所Shimizu, Thomas S.研究小组提出了植物-真菌贸易的行波策略。这一研究成果于2025年2月26日发表在国际顶尖学术期刊《自然》上。

为了监测生活贸易网络的构建，该课题组人员构建了一个由他们设计的高通量延时成像机器人，可以同时跟踪超过50万个真菌节点。然后，该团队测量了网络内大约10万个细胞质流动轨迹。该课题组人员发现菌根真菌以自我调节的行波方式构建网络——生长尖端的脉冲拉动吸收营养的菌丝体的扩张波，菌丝体的密度由离子自我调节。这种设计为相互冲突的贸易需求提供了一个解决方案，因为相对较小的碳投资可以推动真菌范围扩展到营养枯竭区之外，促进对植物伙伴和营养物质的探索。随着时间的推移，网络保持了高度稳定的运输效率，同时增加了环路，缩短了通往潜在新贸易伙伴的路径。真菌通过拓宽菌丝管和加快网络“主干路线”的流动，进一步增强了运输通量。他们的发现为共生真菌控制网络层面的结构和流动以满足贸易需求提供了证据，并阐明了由数百万年的自然选择形成的共生供应链网络的设计原则。

据悉，将近450数百万年前，菌根真菌已经构建了网络来收集和交换植物根系的营养资源。由于依赖宿主产生的碳，这些真菌在构建网络时面临着相互矛盾的权衡，以平衡建设成本与地理覆盖范围和往返根部的长途抗性运输。他们如何应对这些设计挑战尚不清楚。

附：英文原文

Title: A travelling-wave strategy for plant–fungal trade

Author: Oyarte Galvez, Loreto, Bisot, Corentin, Bourrianne, Philippe, Cargill, Rachael, Klein, Malin, van Son, Marije, van Krugten, Jaap, Caldas, Victor, Clerc, Thomas, Lin, Kai-Kai, Kahane, Flix, van Staalduine, Simon, Stewart, Justin D., Terry, Victoria, Turcu, Bianca, van Otterdijk, Sander, Babu, Antoine, Kamp, Marko, Seynen, Marco, Steenbeek, Bas, Zomerdijk, Jan, Tutucci, Evelina, Sheldrake, Merlin, Godin, Christophe, Kokkoris, Vasilis, Stone, Howard A., Kiers, E. Toby, Shimizu, Thomas S.

Issue&Volume: 2025-02-26

Abstract: For nearly 450million years, mycorrhizal fungi have constructed networks to collect and trade nutrient resources with plant roots1,2. Owing to their dependence on host-derived carbon, these fungi face conflicting trade-offs in building networks that balance construction costs against geographical coverage and long-distance resource transport to and from roots3. How they navigate these design challenges is unclear4. Here, to monitor the construction of living trade networks, we built a custom-designed robot for high-throughput time-lapse imaging that could track over 500,000 fungal nodes simultaneously. We then measured around 100,000 cytoplasmic flow trajectories inside the networks. We found that mycorrhizal fungi build networks as self-regulating travelling waves—pulses of growing tips pull an expanding wave of nutrient-absorbing mycelium, the density of which is self-regulated by fusion. This design offers a solution to conflicting trade demands because relatively small carbon investments fuel fungal range expansions beyond nutrient-depletion zones, fostering exploration for plant partners and nutrients. Over time, networks maintained highly constant transport efficiencies back to roots, while simultaneously adding loops that shorten paths to potential new trade partners. Fungi further enhance transport flux by both widening hyphal tubes and driving faster flows along ‘trunk routes’ of the network5. Our findings provide evidence that symbiotic fungi control network-level structure and flows to meet trade demands, and illuminate the design principles of a symbiotic supply-chain network shaped by millions of years of natural selection.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-08614-x

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08614-x