Phycomyces blakesleeanus
JUDI THOMAS, MISSOURI MYCOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Mycelium is the fabric of fungal populations: fungi produce thread-like roots called hyphae, which branch and fuse with one another to form a vast, interconnected network—the mycelium. It allows fungi to grow rapidly, transport nutrients, and even share information about the local environment over long distances. The network is also vulnerable; a wound could lead to catastrophic bleeding of protoplasm that can lead to death. While some fungal species separate their filaments into compartments with septal walls that can limit leakage, other fungi do not make any walls, and mycologists haven’t known how they respond to an injury.
Now, a team at the National University of Singapore has discovered their secret: large, mechanosensitive proteins called gellins that have not been described before. When a hyphal filament is injured, the pressurized liquid protoplasm inside the hyphae gushes out. Immediately, gellins inside the hyphae respond ...
