"Tim Tyler"  wrote in message
news:c8qp8s$hoo$1{at}darwin.ediacara.org...
> irr  wrote or quoted:
> > "Malcolm"  wrote in message
>
> > > Plants are autotrophs, and pretty much synthesise everything for
themselves.
> > > The only significant thing they can't do is to fix atmospheric
nitrogen -
> > > they have to get it from the soil in the form of salts.
> >
> > My Vegan friends also tell me that typical plants can't make their own
> > vitamin B12 and, as with nitrogen, are dependent on symbionts for this.
>
> Plants don't normally use - or contain - B12 at all.  *Sometimes* they
> take up a little bit from animal waste materials in the soil.
>
> Occasionally they contain some analogs of B12 - perhaps intended to
> disrupt the metabolisms of animal predators.
>
> B12 is normally made by bacteria - usually in the guts of animals.

Interesting... are there ideas out there on how animals got the short end of
the stick and must rely on bacteria/diet?  I suppose if you're a plant stuck
in one place you either learn how to make it or learn how to do without it.
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