"Fungi create genes to “win over” their plant friends and neighbors The vast majority of plants depend on fungi for life, and fungi are always learning how to best befriend plants"

I love the way this story makes science approachable and easy to understand. “Plants aren’t very romantic, they usually have their guard up for indications that their prospective fungi dates have ill-intentions and could make them sick. In just one gram of soil, there are thousands of pathogenic and symbiotic organisms, explains Dr. Peter Pellitier, a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford Biology & UC Santa Cruz Environmental Studies. “You’re probably picking up thousands of different fungal species,” he says. “And so, the plant is trying to sort through, like who’s good, who’s bad.” Parsing through the bad and good actors in the soil is crucial for a plant’s survival.”

Mutualistic fungi, the type that partners with plants are constantly evolving and understanding how their genes for communication change over time can be quite tricky