Glomeromycotes

Division Glomeromycota

The Glomeromycetes are true fungi form arbuscular mycorrhizas (AMs) with bryophytes and the roots of vascular land plants, and are dependent on land plants for carbon and energy, providing water and minerals in return. This group is widely distributed and mostly terrestrial, but can also be found in wetlands, including salt-marshes. They form symbioses with the roots of the majority of plant species (>80%).

230 described species
Glomeromycetes are essential for many symbiotic associations between plants and fungi.
These fungi, called arbuscular mycorrhizae (múkēs means “fungus”; rhíza means “root”), form a mutualistic relationship with plant roots. Also called VAM fungi, or vascular-arbuscular mycorrhizae.
These fungi invade the roots to create arbuscules, which are root-like filaments that grow within the plant parenchyma cells to increase the surface area contact and, therefore, the ability to exchange nutrients
The fungi vastly increase the absorption of water and minerals that the plant receives, and in return, the fungi receive sugars created from the plant’s photosynthesis.
These fungi sometimes produce vesicles: enlarged, spherical hyphal swellings that store lipids and numerous nuclei
It is a symbiosis that has been shown to increase the growth and vigor of plants compared to those that have been experimentally treated to remove the fungus (Jeffries et al., 2003). For this reason, people in the agricultural fields are extremely interested in glomeromycetes.
This association is found in over 90% of all plant families living today, showing the prevalence and importance of this symbiosis (Schüßler et al., 2001; Lanfranco et al., 2016)

Additional resources

Fungal allies arm plant roots against disease by rewriting the rules of infection (Phys.org 11Dec2025)

└Mutualist-pathogen co-colonization modulates phosphoinositide signatures at host intracellular interfaces (Guyon et al., 2025)

Underground maps reveal 90% of mycorrhizal fungal biodiversity hotspots lie outside protected areas (Phys.org 23Jul2025)

└Nuland (2025) Global hotspots of mycorrhizal fungal richness are poorly protected

Soil-dwelling fungi shape tree diversity through complex underground partnerships, global study reveals (Phys.org 25Jun2025)

└Jiang et al. (2025) Mycorrhizal symbioses and tree diversity in global forest communities

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