Fungi appear in the news with surprising frequency. However, many of those stories do not provide any new information. Below is a summary of what we’ve learned about fungi from November 2016 Through February 2017. Read below to learn about: two-fungi lichens, the fate of bananas, battery recycyling, Crohn’s disease, orcas, human pathogenic fungi, and more! Visit the associated links to get the full story.
Fungi appear in the news with surprising frequency. However, many of those stories do not provide any new information. Below is a summary of what we’ve learned about fungi from November 2016 Through February 2017. Read below to learn about: mycorrhizas, A. bisporus engineering, fungal evolution, psilocybin research, fungal concerns in medicine, rock-eating fungi, and more! Visit the associated links to get the full story.
Anastomosis is the process by which fungal cells fuse together. This process is very important for filamentous fungi because it allows them to form networks and is a key part to sexual reproduction.
These two toxins are the active chemicals in hallucinogenic mushrooms (often called “magic mushrooms” or “‘shrooms”). Psilocybin and psilocin belong to the LSD family of chemicals, but they are smaller than LSD and occur naturally in mushrooms. These compounds can be found in a variety o f mushrooms, including many species in the genera Psilocybe, Conocybe, Panaeolus, and Gymnopilus. Most often, the mushrooms eaten for their hallucinogenic effects belong to the genus Psilocybe, which lends its name to psilocybin and psilocin.
These two mushroom toxins impact the central nervous system and result in symptoms akin to alcohol intoxication. They are the primary toxins in the Fly Agaric, Amanita muscaria, and are responsible for the psychoactive affects of that mushroom.
Coprine is a fascinating molecule that is technically not poisonous. So why is it listed along with other mushroom toxins? Because it can result in poisoning, but only if you consume a completely different toxin afterward, namely alcohol. If you drink alcohol after eating a coprine-containing mushroom, you can expect to experience flushing of the face and neck, a rapid and/or irregular heartbeat, headache, nausea, and vomiting, and you may also experience difficulty breathing and tingling or numbness in the limbs or hands. These symptoms last as long as the alcohol is in your system, which may be a while since coprine interferes with the body’s process of removing alcohol.
Muscarine is a toxin found primarily in small brown or white mushrooms in the genera Clitocybe and Inocybe. It is also found in other mushrooms, including the Fly Agaric, Amanita muscaria, but at much lower concentrations. Muscarine was initially isolated in the 1860’s by the German chemists Oswald Schmiedeberg and Richard Koppe, who were trying to research the psychoactive properties of the Fly Agaric. They isolated a compound – which they named muscarine after the Fly Agaric’s species name – that decreased heart rate in frogs and could even cause cardiac arrest when high concentrations were used.
This group of poisons contains the most deadly of all mushroom toxins and accounts for the majority of deaths by mushroom poisoning (perhaps up to 95% globally). Amatoxins are found in many Amanita species (from which the group derives its name) – most notably in the Destroying Angels (Amanita virosa and relatives, see FFF#050) and in the Death Cap (Amanita phalloides, see FFF#051) – as well as in some mushrooms in the genera Galerina, Lepiota, and Conocybe.
Note: This is an archived post. Read the current version of this post here. Commonly known as the Split Gill, this little mushroom is easily distinguished by its small gills, which appear to be split lengthwise. The Split Gill is a notable mushroom because of its unusual morphology, ecology, and genetics. Before I get into the bizarre world of fungal sexes, I would like to describe the physical characteristics of this distinctive mushroom.
Many plants in the order Ericales (which includes blueberries, rhododendrons, heaths, heathers, tea, and Brazil nut) form unique mycorrhizae. These plants are frequently found living in harsh conditions, like acidic or highly acidic soil. Their aptitude for these types of habitats is likely due to their unique mycorrhizae. There are actually three types of mycorrhizae formed by these plants: ericoid, arbutoid, and monotropoid.
![#011: Characteristics of Kingdom Fungi [Archived]](https://www.fungusfactfriday.com/wp-content/themes/hueman/assets/front/img/thumb-small-empty.png)
