News Plants

Secret Agent: Hidden helper lets fungus save plants from heat

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

The story of a fungus that keeps plants from withering in hot soil turns out to have been missing a character—the virus that makes it all work.

GOOD VIRUS. A tomato seedling (top) is more than twice as likely to take the heat if it harbors a fungus infected with a newly identified virus rather than an uninfected fungus (bottom).