Entanglement

When a plant is deprived from crucial nutrients it can call for help and attract beneficial microbes. The photo depicts the early stages of symbiosis between the hornwort Anthoceros agrestis and the nitrogen-fixing specialist Nostoc punctiforme. The plant is stained in green and turquoise, it's energy producing chloroplasts can be seen in magenta. The cyanobiont with it's chain of cells can be seen in white or magenta. In the middle of the photo, endophytic Nostoc cells are forming a colony that provides nitrogen to the hornwort in exchange for polysachharides.
by Anna Neubauer