Symbiosis extended: exchange of photosynthetic O2 and fungal-respired CO2 mutually power metabolism of lichen symbionts

Lichens are a symbiosis between a fungus and one or more photosynthetic microorganisms that enables the symbionts to thrive in places and conditions they could not compete independently. Exchanges of water and sugars between the symbionts are the established mechanisms that support lichen symbiosis. Herein, we present a new linkage between algal...