『Abstract
In soils, mycorrhiza (microscopic fungal hypha) living in symbiosis
with plant roots are the biological interface by which plants
obtain, from rocks and organic matter, the nutrients necessary
for their growth and maintenance. Despite their central role in
soils, the mechanism and kinetics of mineral alteration by mycorrhiza
are poorly constrained quantitatively. Here, we report in situ
quantification of weathering rates from a mineral substrate, (001)
basal plane of biotite, by a surface-bound hypha of Paxillus
involutus, grown in association with the root system of a
Scots pine, Pinus sylvestris. Four thin-sections were extracted
by focused ion beam (FIB) milling along a single hypha grown over
the biotite surface. Depth-profile of Si, O, K, Mg, Fe and Al
concentrations were performed at the hypha-biotite interface by
scanning transmission electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray
spectroscopy (STEM-EDX). Large removals of K (50-65%), Mg (55-75%),
Fe (80-85%) and Al (75-85%) were observed in the topmost 40 nm
of biotite underneath the hypha while Si and O are preserved throughout
the depth-profile. A quantitative model of alteration at the hypha-scale
was developed based on solid-state diffusion fluxes of elements
into the hypha and the break-down/mineralogical re-arrangement
of biotite. A strong acidification was also observed with hypha
bound to the biotite surface reaching pH<4.6. When consistently
compared with the abiotic biotite dissolution, we conclude that
the surface-bound mycorrhiza accelerate the biotite alteration
kinetics between pH 3.5 and 5.8 to 〜0.04μmol biotite m-2
h-1. Our current work reaffirms that fungal mineral
alteration is a process that combines our previously documented
bio-mechanical forcing with the μm-scale acidification mediated
by surface-bound hypha and a subsequent chemical element removal
due to the fungal action. A such, our study presents a first kinetic
framework for mycorrhizal alteration at the hypha-scale under
close-to-natural experimental conditions. 』
1. Introduction
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Plant-mycorrhiza symbiosis and incubation with biotite
2.2. Sampling and chemical analysis of hypha-biotite interface
2.3. Hyphal pH measurements
2.4. Abiotic dissolution of biotite
3. Results
3.1. hyphae-biotite interfaces in the STEM elemental profiles
3.2. Chemical composition of the biotite-hypha interface
3.3. Abiotic dissolution of biotite
3.4. pH of the hypha microenvironment
4. Model of the chemical weathering at the hypha-biotite interface
5. Discussion
5.1. Mineral alteration underneath living hypha
5.2. Quantification of elemental fluxes at the hypha-biotite
interface
5.3. Biotite alteration kinetics: mycorrhizal vs. abiotic
6. Conclusions
Acknowledgements
Appendix A. Supplementary data
References