Mycorrhizosphere

The mycorrhizosphere includes "roots, hyphae of the directly connected mycorrhizal fungi, associated microorganisms and the soil within their direct influence". It is the region in which nutrients released from the root and the fungus increase the microbial population and its activities. The roots of most terrestrial plants, including most crop plants and almost all woody plants, are colonized by mycorrhiza-forming symbiotic fungi. In this relationship, the plant roots are infected by a fungus, but the rest of the fungal mycelium continues to grow through the soil, digesting and absorbing nutrients and water and sharing these with its plant host. The fungus in turn benefits by receiving photosynthetic sugars from its host.