Phospholipid-derived fatty acids microbial classes when in fact those PLFAs are present in a broad range of life forms. Phospholipids can occur in many biological classes (such as in plant roots, fungi, as well as in soil bacteria), so care has to be taken in over-assigning PLFA biomarkers to the wrong class. Even though phospholipids occur in many different life forms, the fatty acid side chains between differing life forms can be quite unique. Polyunsaturated fatty acids ("e.g." 18:3 ω3c) are found in plants, algae and cyanobacteria, but are often not present in bacteria. Monounsaturated fatty acids (particularly at the omega-7 position), odd-chain
Fungal-bacterial endosymbiosis associations. What is known on these associations impacts our understanding of the ecological interactions of plants, fungi and bacteria. The classification of bacterial endosymbionts and their fungal partners occur across a diverse set of phyla. Ca. G. sporarum and Burkholderia sp. have been identified to be β-proteobacteria, a gram-negative class of bacteria, and N. punctiforme is a cyanobacteria . These phyla are not closely related showing that the capability of endosymbiosis with fungi is widely spread. A similar pattern is seen with the fungal partners with examples occurring across broad phyla/divisions such as Glomeromycota, Zygomycota, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. The common