Fungi Rails Extend Almost Infinitely, Largest Living Creature on the Planet Is 17 Kilometers in Diameter
Although omnipresent, fungi are considered most mysterious organisms by human beings. Until the late 20th century, chanterelles and horns of plenty were considered plants due to their sedentary lifestyle. Today, it is known that fungi form an empire of their own, which is much closer to that of animals. Experts assume that there are up to five million fungal species, many more than plants or insects.
Contrary to “conventional” growth by cell division, hyphae grow nearly infinitely (similar to human nerve cells) by extension at their tips. As a result, hyphae may reach a length of several kilometers. While they appear rather modest, hyphae are world champions in growth. “Having a diameter of three micrometers, hyphae can grow by more than one micrometer per minute,” Reinhard Fischer says. “This would correspond to human beings gaining ten centimeters in thickness every minute.” No wonder that the biggest living organism on earth is a fungus: A honey fungus in the forests of Canada was found to have a diameter of 17 km.
Fungal Cells Do not Grow by Division, but Extend Almost Infinitely – Video Sequence Illustrates Growth
Photo: KIT
Hence, understanding of the growth processes of hyphae is of interest to both scientists who want to study their positive properties as well as to scientists who want to fight their negative properties. How these growth processes work is studied by international teams of researchers. So far, however, exact coordination of the growth processes has been unknown.
It was known that mycelia do not extend continuously, but grow in phases. It was not known how these growth explosions are initiated and controlled. “As hyphae extend at the tip only, the question was: How do they know where the tip is?”, Fischer says. The KIT researchers found that the tip is tagged by certain proteins. The construction material required is supplied in vesicles, small bubbles on motor proteins running on long rails. Upon their arrival at the tip, the vesicles attach to the cell wall and merge with it. As a result, the cell extends. The growth phases are controlled by the calcium concentration at the end of the hyphae. “If the concentration is small, the transport phase starts. In case of a calcium pulse, the vesicles merge with the cell membrane and release their content.” The cell wall consists of chitin, the material of which insect carapaces are made.
The team visualized the growth processes by marking key elements of the cell’s signal and transport system with fluorescent proteins, Norio Takeshita says. For quantitative imaging of living fungi, latest highest-resolution optical fluorescence microscopy methods were applied in this interdisciplinary project.
The scientists expect that their findings will be used for the development of fungicides in agriculture and in the clinical sector as well as for the optimization of biotechnological processes in medicine production.
Contacts and sources:
Dr. Felix Mescoli
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
http://www.pnas.org/content/114/22/5701.long
Source: http://www.ineffableisland.com/2017/06/fungi-rails-extend-almost-infinitely.html
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