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Compare Nutrient Acquisition by Fungi and Plants

Upon considering nutrition the primary factor to take into consideration is the metabolic strategy of the organism in question. Fungi are heterotrophic, obtaining both carbon and energy from organic compounds; they are chemo-organotrophs. Plants are autotrophic, they obtain their carbon from atmospheric CO2 and their energy from light; they are photolithotrophs. The nutritional requirement of the organism is thus dictated by its nutritional strategies, this essay will concern itself with the comparison of molecules absorbed, mechanisms, regulation and organs of absorption.
Plants can synthesize their organic molecular compounds out of inorganic nutrients, the processes of energy transduction and carbon fixation occur in the chloroplasts in the reaction of photosynthesis. Plant leaves have many physiological adaptations to ensure maximal rates of photosynthesis, however there are many other nutrients required by plants and it is the acquisition of mineral nutrients via root absorption ...

Posted by: Margaret Rowden

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