Friend or foe? Researchers explore ancient partnership between moss and fungi
The next time you walk through the woods in the dead of winter, take a moment to see if you can spot one of nature's most persistent and heartiest survivors.
No, not the patch of brown grasses peeking through a snowbank, or the acres of trees with their bare boughs and branches, waiting for spring.
Look down, and you'll find the only green to see is right under your boot—a lush carpet of mosses.
For Björn Hamberger, a James K. Billman Jr., M.D., Endowed Professor in the Michigan State University College of Natural Science's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, this year-round toughness is cause for admiration on its own.
"It gives you an idea of just how resilient these organisms are, and it's probably one of the reasons that mosses have stuck around and haven't been lost through evolution," said Hamberger.
But it's also a starting point for research with a scope that spans eons—from ancient Earth to humanity's future in space. Appearing in The Plant Journal, the Hamberger lab's latest paper seeks to better understand how mosses and other plants conquered our planet, and how, in order to do so, they may have gotten some much-needed help from their longtime collaborators, fungi.
From early Earth to future Mars
Mosses made the transition to land 450 million years ago during the Ordovician period, a process that Hamberger suspects couldn't have succeeded without some teamwork.
A mushroom coexisting with its mossy neighbor. At least 80% of modern plants coordinate with fungi, with these relationships helping plants grow stronger and become more resilient. Credit: Britta Hamberger
Four panels of microscopic analysis show long, tube-like moss cells that have been colonized by smaller, filament-like fungal structures. White arrows are superimposed on the images, pointing to specific interactions. Credit: The Plant Journal (2024). DOI: 10.1111/tpj.16605
Björn Hamberger (left) and Davis Mathieu (right) pose next to a terrarium containing moss and fog. The Hamberger lab at Michigan State University has studied mosses for over a decade. This research considers how moss and other plants successfully transformed our planet, and how these organisms can help us tackle complex future problems, from food supply to space exploration. Credit: Björn Hamberger
A close-up of moss on the forest floor during the Michigan winter. The latest research from the Hamberger lab at Michigan State University explores the long-running relationship between moss and fungi, and how this relationship is impacted by endobacteria. Credit: Britta Hamberger