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Mushrooms, Mycology and Psychedelics > The Ethnobotanical Garden
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WA's incredible underground orchid * 2
    #13927317 -

Rare underground orchid gets it's nutrients from fungi. Australia is full of fascinating life forms ...

WA's incredible underground orchid
February 7, 2011 - The University of Western Australia

Rhizanthella gardneri is a cute, quirky and critically endangered orchid that lives all its life underground.  It even blooms underground, making it virtually unique amongst plants. 

Last year, using radioactive tracers, scientists at The University of Western Australia showed that the orchid gets all its nutrients by parasitising fungi associated with the roots of broom bush, a woody shrub of the WA outback. 

Now, with less than 50 individuals left in the wild, scientists have made a timely and remarkable discovery about its genome.

Despite the fact that this fully subterranean orchid cannot photosynthesise and has no green parts at all, it still retains chloroplasts - the site of photosynthesis in plants.

"We found that compared with normal plants, 70 per cent of the genes in the chloroplast have been lost," said Dr Etienne Delannoy, of the ARC Centre for Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, the lead researcher of a study published in Molecular Biology and Evolution.  "With only 37 genes, this makes it the smallest of all known plant chloroplast genomes."

"The chloroplast genome was known to code for functions other than photosynthesis, but in normal plants, these functions are hard to study," said ARC Centre Director Professor Ian Small.

"In Rhizanthella, everything that isn't essential for its parasitic lifestyle has gone.  We discovered that it has retained a chloroplast genome to make only four crucial proteins. 

Our results are relevant to understanding gene loss in other parasites, for example, the Plasmodium parasite that causes malaria."

Associate Professor Mark Brundrett from the Wheatbelt Orchid Rescue Project describes Rhizanthella as one of the most beautiful, strange and iconic orchids in the world. 

"Combining on-the-ground conservation efforts with cutting edge laboratory technologies has led to a great discovery with impacts for both science and conservation.  The genome sequence is a very valuable resource, as it makes it possible to estimate the genetic diversity of this Declared Rare plant".

Professor Brundrett has been working with the Department of Environment and Conservation and volunteers from the West Australian Native Orchid Study and Conservation Group to locate these unique orchids. 

"We needed all the help we could get since it often took hours of searching under shrubs on hands and knees to find just one underground orchid!"

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Re: WA's incredible underground orchid [Re: veggie]
    #13928104 -

That's amazing. An underground parasitic plant that requires no light.... Kind of like mushrooms in that respect. Are there any other known plants that don't require light?


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Smile through our disguises.

:dancingbear:

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Re: WA's incredible underground orchid [Re: Toe_Jam]
    #13928324 -

Indian Pipe I believe...


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Re: WA's incredible underground orchid [Re: Rekkuzo]
    #13928566 -

awesome read veggie! that is so cool that there are species that can actually live like that.

i hope they find a way to cnserve that marvelous specimen. it would be so sad to have such a unique plant go extinct.

we have much to learn people.


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Nature is my church and walking through it is gospel. It tells no lies and reveals all to those who look, and listen, closely.
-Karode

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Re: WA's incredible underground orchid [Re: ferrel_human]
    #13928797 -

So it still uses chloroplasts to make 4 proteins, does that mean it still uses some sunlight? Also, if it isn't using them to make proteins with sunlight, then it is using chloroplasts to produce proteins from materials it is taking out of the host fungus? If so is it a transitional kingdom species...like half in the plant kingdom half in the fungi? Like a bigfoot of the orchid worlds?:mushroom2:food for thought...


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We must close our eyes and invoke a new manner of seeing...a wakefulness that is the birthright of us all, though few put it to use. ~PLOTINUS

AMU Trades!

I am what I am. ~:popeye:
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gimme seeds and starts:awecid::dopefish::awecid:gimme seeds and starts

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Re: WA's incredible underground orchid [Re: OdinSun]
    #13929856 -

deff a neat plant!


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DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME: no guarantees can be made about the accuracy of the information herein. The information dicussed in these posts is purely hypothetical, and for intelectual purposes only. Any similarity between internet chat and real life is pure coincidence.

:google:

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Re: WA's incredible underground orchid [Re: veggie]
    #13931490 -

Cool read.

:themoreyouknow:


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My Ethnobotanical Growing TeksWhere to Start Flow Chart, QnA, and helpful links

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Re: WA's incredible underground orchid [Re: Toe_Jam]
    #13932256 -

very cool.  who would have thought broom can be useful lol!


E-in Liondragon said:
That's amazing. An underground parasitic plant that requires no light.... Kind of like mushrooms in that respect. Are there any other known plants that don't require light?


a large number of plants dont use light, they are parasite.  many many from around the globe.  i think why this one is so special is that it does everything, even flower, underground.  most parasitic plants at least come up to reproduce...

it would be interesting to learn how this little gen does manage to reproduce bi sexually, or if it even does...??


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The seeds you won't sow are the plants you dont grow.

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Re: WA's incredible underground orchid [Re: kadakuda]
    #13932295 -

Interesting read :smile: There sure is some weird stuff that grows aroudn here.


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Re: WA's incredible underground orchid [Re: Ambient Forest]
    #13932976 -

Perhaps tissue culture may help in multiplying the plant, i know its diffucult to create the right recipe but it could just be possible.

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