Abstract
SEVERAL stages of a parasitic fungus were found in the cells of the alga Palaeonitella in thin sections of macroplants in the Lower Devonian Rhynie chert. Some of the algal cells are greatly enlarged indicating a host response. The fungi include encysted zoospores on the algal cell wall, penetration of the host cell wall, and transfer of the fungal protoplast and the mature zoosporangium with discharge tube. Here we document evidence of plasmodiophoromycetes in the fossil record and demonstrate that this type of parasitic interaction with a modern host response was well established in freshwater palaeoecosystems at least 400 million years ago.
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Taylor, T., Remy, W. & Hass, H. Parasitism in a 400-million-year-old green alga. Nature 357, 493–494 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1038/357493a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/357493a0
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