Chapter 15, Problem 5SQ

Summary Introduction

To determine: The benefit a protist or a fungus receive from a cyanobacterial symbiont and the benefit a plant may receive from a cyanobacterial symbiont.

Introduction: Autotrophs are the only producers of food on this Earth. They are the only organisms that have the power and capacity to trap solar energy and to utilize it for making food by the process of photosynthesis. There are some plants that grow in swampy and marshy areas and the leguminous plants that are unable to get proper nutrients. For this purpose, to get proper nutrients plants form a mutual relationship with micro-organisms. This mutual relationship is called symbiosis.