_Dr Martin Bidartondo, Ecology & Evolution Section, Imperial College London & The Royal Botanic Gardens, presents this Plant and Microbial Sciences Seminar for the Division of Biology on; “Turning the Table: when fungi host plants” _

Thousands of plants (bryophytes, monocots and dicots) are heterotrophic and nutritionally dependent upon fungi (glomero-, asco- and basidiomycetes) during part or all of their life. Only recently has the mycorrhizal biology of these plants started to be systematically unravelled. I will explore our knowledge of these evolutionarily and ecologically diverse plant-fungal symbioses highlighting: 1) areas where there has been significant progress (i.e., evolution, specificity, networks, germination), and 2) the questions that remain to be answered about myco-heterotrophy and epiparasitism (e.g., carbon transfer, signalling).