identifier: traitmech:000668 label: fungal root mantle formation definition: A morphological phenotype in which a fungus forms an external sheath of aggregated hyphae, called a mantle, around a plant root. definition_source: DOI:10.1128/AEM.01991-15 trait_category: MORPHOLOGY term_kind: CLASS mapping_status: PROPOSED parent_traits: - METPO:1000059 evidence: - reference: DOI:10.1128/AEM.01991-15 snippet: the fungus initially grows around the roots to form a mass of mycelium called the fungal mantle. notes: Krause et al. (2015), Introduction, first paragraph, directly read publisher HTML. This contiguous clause describes the root-external mantle separately from the intraradical Hartig net. Main text and captions were read; actual figure images and supplementary contents were not inspected. The ald1-overexpressing T. vaccinum 1.16 is an engineered perturbation, not a natural canonical exemplar. - reference: DOI:10.3389/fpls.2014.00229 snippet: The fungus enwraps the root tip with a hyphal mantle [M] composed of several layers. notes: Pena et al. (2014), Figure 1 caption, complete sentence, exact-matched in primary full-text XML and visually checked in the publisher PDF on p. 3. The actual composite figure contains a root photograph and section image with schematic infrared arrows; it is not an experimental image of radiation penetration. Main Results separately describe multilayered mantles in field-collected roots. Other figure images and Table S1 were not inspected; no numerical thickness, spectral function or additional taxon exemplar is inferred. - reference: DOI:10.3390/microorganisms9122612 snippet: Three weeks post-inoculation, fungal hyphae formed a thinner but denser mantle. notes: 'Ruytinx et al. (2021), Results 3.3, complete sentence, exact-matched in primary full-text XML. Main text and actual Figure 2 on PDF p. 8 were inspected: https://pure.mpg.de/rest/items/item_3375108_1/component/file_3400121/content The 21-day state follows the reported thick, dense 14-day mantle, not loss of the sheath. Methods 2.6 names WGA-Alexa 488 whereas the Figure 2 caption names WGA-oregon green; the discrepancy is retained, not resolved by inference. Other figure images and supplements were not inspected.' canonical_examples: - taxon_id: NCBITaxon:29883 taxon_label: Laccaria bicolor reference: DOI:10.3390/microorganisms9122612 note: Reference culture S238N, not haploid S238N-H82. Ruytinx (2021), Methods 2.1/2.3 and Results 3.3 with Figure 2B-C, documents a mantle around Populus tremula x alba 717-1B4 lateral roots in P20 sandwich coculture, including the 14- and 21-day states. The laboratory history at https://mycor.iam.inrae.fr/IAM/?page_id=4555 traces S238N to a 1976 Crater Lake, Oregon fruitbody collection under Tsuga mertensiana. NCBI EFetch confirms species 29883 and separate child strain 486041 S238N-H82; the genome strain is not substituted for the experimental culture. This is culture-qualified evidence, not independent reidentification or a claim for all strains. discussions: - discussion_id: fungal-root-mantle-scope-and-hierarchy prompt: Resolve a closer morphology parent without conflating root interfaces. kind: CURATION_TODO status: OPEN rationale: Use active phenotype METPO:1000059 under quality METPO:1000188; METPO:1000198 mycorrhization is obsolete. The root qualifier excludes other senses of mantle or sheath. Hartig net formation traitmech:000667 is intercellular within roots; arbuscules 000664 and pelotons 000666 are intracellular, while BAS 000665 are branching groups on extraradical runner hyphae. Mycelial growth 000074 is explicitly bacterial and capsule 000063 is a polymer layer around a cell, not hyphae around a plant root. Colony outline, cell shape, rhizosphere association and ecological symbiosis outcomes are not this architecture. The existing Hartig-net mantle mention is an evidence boundary, not an ungrounded node, synonym or parent-gap TODO requiring repair. Bare mantle and fungal sheath name structures, not formation phenotypes; no exact synonyms, xrefs or SSSOM equivalences are asserted. No organism-level disjointness or fixed thickness, color, host range or nutrient-transfer outcome is implied. posed_by: codex posed_date: '2026-10-07' - discussion_id: fungal-root-mantle-mechanism-and-readout prompt: Separate mantle morphogenesis from bulk expression and perturbation effects. kind: KNOWLEDGE_GAP status: OPEN rationale: A protein-resolved causal graph is deferred pending authority-verified proteins, sequence-to-culture links and inspection of the relevant perturbation images, not because mechanisms are absent. DOI:10.1128/AEM.01991-15 reports a thicker mantle in native ald1 overexpression; it does not establish an obligatory universal pathway. Its mte1 evidence is heterologous yeast growth rescue, not a native mantle-formation knockout. Keep increased thickness, first sheath formation, branching and plant responses separate. DOI:10.3390/microorganisms9122612 uses an EcM transcriptomic sample containing all fungal and mixed plant-fungal material within 0.5 cm of a root. Coexpression in that bulk sample is not mantle-specific localization or functional validation. The paper explicitly presents working models for future experimental tests. posed_by: codex posed_date: '2026-10-07' curation_history: - timestamp: '2026-10-07T19:40:30Z' curator: codex action: MINTED_TRAITMECH_ID changes: Added fungal root mantle formation with three DOI-backed snippets and a culture-qualified S238N example. Ignored-and-hidden novelty and main/worktree/pending-PR checks support 000668, v544 and block 1062100-1062199; pending 000665-000667 reservations remain occupied. Kept root-external sheath architecture separate from Hartig nets, ecological outcomes and unverified protein mechanisms. llm_assisted: true