In fact, not knowing permeates many aspects of mycology. As Bhatnagar explains, only a couple hundred fungal species have so far been scientifically described and although we are getting better at figuring out how they work — alone, in groups with other fungi, with plants, and so forth — there are still massive question marks regarding much of the Kingdom and how it operates.
Leaving these questions unanswered could have dire consequences for our planetary systems and our food supply. For example, hyphae can remain alive in wood chips used for mulching, and the mulch you purchase at the nursery could have originated almost anywhere.
These are not just broad philosophical concerns. Meanwhile, the books below will get you up to speed on identifying fungi species, including those that are good to eat, as well as cooking and storing them, growing them, and thinking about their numerous uses to humans and our planet.
This field guide geared towards absolute beginners offers myriad photographs to help you locate and identify fungi in the wild. In addition to providing a reference to some North American species, two brief chapters cover cultivating fungi as well as cooking what you grow and find — with recipes.
All life on land, including my own, depended on these networks. This is a great next step along your educational journey. Together or individually, you can pore over the informative text to learn about mushroom habitats and ecosystems.
Or just spend hours gazing at the intricate and mesmerizing illustrations. Food and science journalist Bierend tells some of the myriad stories of fungi and their functions in ecosystems through the people who study, cultivate, and wield them and their powers. Once released, the spores germinate into tree-like mycelia and are ready to "mate. Mating takes place when two primary mycelia come into contact with one another and form a secondary mycelium. Each segment of the secondary mycelium has two nuclei: one from each original segment.
The individual nuclei still have half the number of chromosomes as the parent cell. In the course of several steps nuclei fuse, giving rise to cells with the original number of chromosomes. After this point, the sexual reproductive cycle begins again: meiosis occurs and spores are produced, according to "Van Nostrand. Fungi are inextricably linked to our lives and livelihoods.
They affect our health, food, industry and agriculture in both positive and vexing ways. Fungi are sources of important medication. The antibiotics penicillin and cephalosporin, as well as the drug cyclosporine, which helps to prevent transplant rejection, are all produced by fungi, according to the "Encyclopedia of Biodiversity.
For example, Aspergillus fungi that grow on corn and peanuts produce aflatoxins. This mycotoxin is considered a carcinogen and has been linked to liver cancer.
Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is essential to the fermentation of wine and beer, and to the baking of raised, fluffy bread. The characteristic azure hue of blue cheeses is due to the sporulation of the fungus Penicillium roquefortii , according to the "Encyclopedia of Biodiversity. Yet smut and rust fungi named for the coaly and rust like appearance of their spores routinely destroy food crops and plants like beans, barley and pine trees, according to "Van Nostrand.
Important scientific discoveries have been made using fungi as model organisms. The discovery that genes control the expression of enzymes, and that one gene controls one enzyme, was a result of experiments with the pink mold Neurospora. Yeast has also been used as a model organism for answering questions in the field of genetics. Still, what we know about fungi today, and what we can do with fungi, is just the very beginning of all that is possible.
As Volk states in "Encyclopedia of Biodiversity," there are 75, fungal species that are named. But this number is believed to represent only 5 percent of the species that exist in nature. Not all fungi stand alone. Many types live in symbiosis with animals, as the fungus and animal rely on each other for essential services. Cows and other animals that eat grass depend on gut fungi and other microorganisms to help break down lignin, cellulose, and other materials in wood's cell walls.
While fungi only make up 8 percent of the gut microbes, they break down 50 percent of the biomass. To figure out which enzymes the gut fungi produce, Michelle O'Malley and her team at the University of California, Santa Barbara grew several species of gut fungi on lignocellulose.
They then fed them simple sugars. As the fungi "ate" the simple sugars, they stopped the hard work of breaking down the cell walls, like opting for take-out rather than cooking at home. Depending on the food source, fungi "turned off" certain genes and shifted which enzymes they were producing. Scientists found that these fungi produced hundreds more enzymes than fungi used in industry can.
They also discovered that the enzymes worked together to be even more effective than industrial processes currently are. O'Malley's recent research shows that industry may be able to produce biofuels even more effectively by connecting groups of enzymes like those produced by gut fungi.
Some fungi work outside the guts of animals, like those that partner with termites. Tropical termites are far more effective at breaking down wood than animals that eat grass or leaves, both of which are far easier to digest. Young termites first mix fungal spores with the wood in their own stomachs, then poop it out in a protected chamber.
After 45 days of fungal decomposition, older termites eat this mix. By the end, the wood is almost completely digested. Scientists assumed that the majority of the decomposition occurred outside of the gut, discounting the work of the younger termites.
But Hongjie Li, a biologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, wondered if younger insects deserved more credit. He found that young workers' guts break down much of the lignin.
In addition, the fungi involved don't use any of the typical enzymes white or brown rot fungi produce. Because the fungi and gut microbiota associated with termites have evolved more recently, this discovery may open the door to new innovations. From the forest floor to termite mounds, fungal decomposition could provide new tools for biofuels production. One route is for industry to directly produce the fungal and associated microbiota's enzymes and other chemicals.
When they analyzed termite-fungi systems, scientists found hundreds of unique enzymes. The fruiting body is made up of tightly packed hyphae which divide to produce the different parts of the fungal structure, for example the cap and the stem.
Gills underneath the cap are covered with spores and a 10 cm diameter cap can produce up to million spores per hour. Yeasts are small, lemon-shaped single cells that are about the same size as red blood cells. They multiply by budding a daughter cell off from the original parent cell. Scars can be seen on the surface of the yeast cell where buds have broken off.
Yeasts such as Saccharomyces play an important role in the production of bread and in brewing. Yeasts are also one of the most widely used model organisms for genetic studies, for example in cancer research. Other species of yeast such as Candida are opportunistic pathogens and cause infections in individuals who do not have a healthy immune system.
Educational resource for students: Observing fungal cultures in a Petri dish and learning about colony morphology. Fungal diseases can have a devastating effect on our health and our environment.
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