Zygosaccharomyces bailii wants to ruin your Snakejuice

We are upon the hour of a new year, which of course means booze! Now, we all know that there will be a medley of alcohols consumed tonight. I am sure that we are also all fully aware that we owe thanks to yeasts, for making that fermentation process so readily available.

 

But not all yeasts want to help with your intoxication. And in the same way they will spoil your good times, those yeasts are called spoilage yeasts.

One of the widest spread spoilage yeasts, Zygosaccharomyces bailii, is so successful because it has the ability to tolerate a wide range of stressful living conditions (like fermented products.) While many products like wine, mayonnaise, and even pickles, are generally described to be shelf stable; Z. bailii is ready to get all up in there and have a good time. One of the sweet skills that lead this yeast to be successful is that it can metabolize both glucose, and acetic acid (which is generally seen as a stressor/killer of yeasts.)

Zygosaccharomyces bailii wants to ruin your Snakejuice

 A new study published in the December 28 issue of PLOS One seeks to explore the relationship of Z. bailii’s utilization of these substrates and how it manages to grow efficiently when both are present. Does it utilize both in the same metabolic pathways? Or do the two get consumed separate and independent of one another?

The Fate of Acetic Acid during Glucose Co-Metabolism by the Spoilage Yeast Zygosaccharomyces bailii

In order to determine whether Z. bailii grew more efficiently in the presence of just one substrate or the other, the team grew strains in isolated substrates as well as mixed substrates of Acetic Acid and glucose. Throughout the growth cycle they measured the biomass and compared amongst the cultures. The results of this demonstrated a number of things.

When comparing those growth rates  and biomass produced on the isolated substrates to those on the mixed substrate cultures, the team found that a mixed growth medium held a lower growth rate at a pH of 3.0 over either pure substrate. This suggests that with the pH lowered the acetic acid affects efficiency, which is evidence of a need by the cell, to overcome intracellular acidification. This is reinforced by the observation that when grown at a higher pH of 5.0 the decrease isn't evident. A similar difference in growth rate is noticed in the purely acetic acid substrate cultures. However; when grown on a mixed substrate of Glucose and acetic acid, Zygosacharomyces bailii utilizes both the acid and sugar simultaneously. The yeast appears to use each of the substrates individually as both a carbon source and an energy source, showing no effect in the presence of the other. This is significant, because generally speaking the presence of glucose reduces the usage of substandard (energy wise) carbon and energy sources.

By using magnetic resonance spectroscopy and measuring 14C at various pathway steps, the researchers were able to determine that even when glucose is present, acetic acid will act as an additional source of acetyl-CoA during the Krebs Cycle, as well as for lipid biosynthesis. Basically that means Z. Bailii takes a typical environmental stressor and uses it to make extra amounts of the precursors for fueling one of the major energy cycles. And thus, your drink and New Year's Eve Bash are destroyed.

Awesome Researchers:
Rodrigues, F., Sousa, M., Ludovico, P., Santos, H., Côrte-Real, M., & Leão, C. (2012). The Fate of Acetic Acid during Glucose Co-Metabolism by the Spoilage Yeast Zygosaccharomyces bailii PLoS ONE, 7 (12) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0052402

Photo Cred:
DTDT (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Gif - Ron Swanson of Parks and Recreation via GIFSoup

Fungal Word Friday: Pileipellis

 

The skin of a mushroom is called the cuticle.

 

 Russula mustelina with portion of cuticle peeled
away from the cap.

However; there are more specific names for the skin at a microscopic level in accord to what portion of the fruiting body they are located. Pileipellis is the name attributed to the microscopic level of the cuticle on the mushroom cap.


Image of Psilocybe aztecorum pileipellis (Microscopic make up of the cap cuticle.)

Photo Creds: 

Amadej Trnkoczy (amadej) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Alan Rockefeller [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Fungal Word Friday: Coprophilous

Coprophilous is a term used to denote that a fungus grows on dung.

Many fungi that grow on dung must find ways to launch their spores far enough away that they have the potential to be picked up by animals that would not eat near dung. The most famous of these fungi are those in the Pilobolus genera, which launch their spores with the fastest acceleration in the living world.

Pilobolus sp. growing on some poo.

Photo Cred: By 19Adelheid (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Fungal Word Friday: Obclavate

Obclavate means shaped like a reversed club. Where the distal part is smaller. In mycology this is often in reference to conidia shape.

Obclavate Conidia of Alternaria sp.

Photo Credit: Ninjatacoshell (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

Mushroom of the Month: Dryad's Saddle

The Dryad's Saddle (Polyporus squamosus) is a bracket fungus that is widely distributed in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. This fungus is a fan of both live and dead hardwoods on which it causes white rot disease.

Polyporus squamosus

We will turn again to mushroomexpert to run down a key.
1. Mushroom growing on other mushrooms or the decayed remains of other mushrooms. Mycotrophs
1. Mushroom not growing on other mushrooms. 2

2. Mushroom with gills or pores on its underside. 3
2. Gills and pores absent.

3. Growing shelflike on wood (or, if not, then gills concentric rather than radial); mushroom very tough and leathery, corky, or woody (try tearing it in half); gills or pores tough and hard; cap frequently (but not always) with concentric zones of color.   4 Polypores
3. Not completely as above.

4. Stem present (central or lateral).5
4. Stem absent. [To be developed.]

5. Flesh pale (white, pale pinkish, etc.) when young and fresh.    6 Stemmed, Pale-Fleshed Polyporus
5. Flesh darker than above when fresh and young. [To be developed.]

6. Growing above ground on the wood of trees, stumps, logs, branches, or sticks. 7
6. Growing at the very bases of trees or stumps--or growing terrestrially, from buried roots or without clear association with a tree.

7. Stem black or with a black base. 8
7. Neither stem nor stem base black. 

8. Cap with scales. 9
8. Cap without scales. 

9. Only rarely growing on wood; recorded only from California and the Southwest; scales raised, with sharp edges; stem with white hairs over the blackish portion; mushroom connected through the wood to a large underground mass of tissue (a "sclerotium"). Polyporus tuberaster
9. Always growing on wood; widely distributed but more common east of the Rocky Mountains; scales pressed down, with rounded edges; stem without white hairs; sclerotium absent.         Polyporus squamosus
For more information on this mushroom i present you with the wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyporus_squamosus

Photo Cred: By Appaloosa (photographed by Appaloosa) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

Fungal Word Friday: Anthropophilic

Any fungus that preferentially grows on humans rather than other animals or the soil.

Trichophyton tonsurans on plate.

 

T. tonsurans where it would like to be.

Photo Creds:
By Nathan Reading from Halesowen, UK [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
&
[GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Fungal Word Friday: Teleomoprh

A Teleomorph is the sexual stage of a fungus.

The teleomorph form of Microsphaera penicillata.

Photo Credit: Ninjatacoshell (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

Fungal Word Friday: Clamp Connection

A cross structure formed by hyphal cells that helps ensure each cell or or septately segmented portion of hypha receives a differeing set of nuclei.

A picture with several Clamp Connections visible.

 For further information the following diagram helps show us the formation process of a clamp connection.

Formation of a Clamp Connection

Formation Diagram credit: http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/wong/Bot201/Basidiomycota/Clamp_connection_formation.html

Photo Cred:By Alan Rockefeller (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Fungal Word Friday: Biseriate

Specialized conidiogenous cells that produce conidia without increasing in length, and arising from metulae as in the genus Aspergillus. The word means "arranged in two rows."

A biseriate conidiophore of Aspergillus alliaceus.

Photo Cred: By Ninjatacoshell (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

Foreign Spore Germination: Tumblr

Ok, this isn't your normal Spore Generation. Usually I use those to point you to an article that covers mycological news better and faster than I. This Time I am giving you a fun Tumblr aptly called Fungi:

Fungi

They have some great photos (like the one below), intermixed with news stories, recipes and personal anecdotes. Go give them a look.

http://mycology.tumblr.com/post/34831934158/taschenfass-erinnert-mich-an-alice-im

How Cryptococcus Bypasses the Blood Brain Barrier

Cordyceps is widely known as the zombie fungus because it likes to take over the brain functions of it victim. Often causing them to do things they normally wouldn't and leading to their demise.

But Cordyceps is not something that humans have to worry about. No, we have our own fungal nasties and one of the worst is Cryptococcus neoformans... I mean it has the word "Crypt" right there in its name! But what does C. neoformans have to do with Cordyceps?

Cryptococcus neoformans

Well, for starters, it infects the brain. In fact it is the causal agent of the most common fungal disease of the central nervous system. Cryptococcal meningoencephalitis is a very dangerous illness, and is actually a major cause of death in AIDS patients.

Our brain does have a good nervous system defense mechanism however; the Blood Brain Barrier. This series of tight junctions along its capillaries separates circulating blood from the nervous systems extracellular fluid. It acts basically as a gateway, restricting the diffusion of foreign particles and larger molecules into the cerebrospinal fluids, while allowing the small needed molecules (Oxygen, Hormones, etc.) through. This generally causes a pretty good barrier... but C. neoformans may have another thing in common with Cordyceps...

A study published in PLOS One finds C. neoformans takes control of the Endothelial cells that constitute the Blood Brain Barrier. Not in the grand way that Cordyceps does, but in a much simpler way. It causes the cell to induce fusogenic activity, and fuses into the very barrier meant to keep it at bay.

Cryptococcus neoformans-Derived Microvesicles Enhance the Pathogenesis of Fungal Brain Infection

You see, while C. neoformans grows and infects, it produces microvesicles which contain components for the fungus's capsule. This capsule is generally considered to be a major determiner of how virulent a strain is because those lacking it are avirulent. These vesicles travel across the cell wall of the fungus carrying the building blocks to bio-synthesize the capsule.

This study demonstrates the potential of these microvesicles in helping the pathogen traverse the blood brain barrier.

To start, the researchers fused a fluorescence protein into one of the most common proteins in C. neoformans derived microvesicles in order to directly view presence and concentration of their formation.

When human endothelial cells, such as those in the blood brain barrier, were exposed to the microvesicles ruffling of the plasma membrane was detected. As time progressed during incubation the fluorescence started increasing in the endothelial cells, suggesting that C. neoformans had invaded and was secreting more microvesicles within the cell.

Looking at density gradients to determine the mechanism for these effects the scientist discovered an uptake of lipid raft activity in the presence of the C. neoformans microvesicles. This means that when these microvesicles are around, the cell itself increases the ability for the invader to adhere to and travel across the membrane barrier.

In addition to this cell inducing, a secondary test to determine whether cell fusion took place was conducted. By dying multiple cell aliquots in distinct colors and presenting portions of them with microvesicles fusion would be detected by multi-fluorescent cells. And just as predicted, those not exposed did not fuse, while those presented with the invader did.

Tests run in vivo with mice demonstrated that by increasing amounts of these microvesicles, along with a C. neoformans infection, there was a significant increase of brain infection by the fungus. Thus the team demonstrated that Cryptococcus neoformans derived microvesicles play a significant role in brain invasion.

In this study, a glimpse of how devious pathogenic fungi  can be is revealed. While the more dramatic members, such as Cordyceps, garner picture worthy attention. The subterfuge practiced by Cryptococcus is just as deadly a form of mind control. More akin to a vampire glamoring you to inviting it in, than to outright controlling your body like a puppet.

A little too "In your face" for Cryptococcus.

Awesome Researchers:
Huang, S., Wu, C., Chang, Y., Kwon-Chung, K., Brown, R., & Jong, A. (2012). Cryptococcus neoformans-Derived Microvesicles Enhance the Pathogenesis of Fungal Brain Infection PLoS ONE, 7 (11) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0048570
 
Photo Cred: By Dr. Graham Beards (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Fungal Word Friday: Acrosporogenous

In conidial maturation, when the cells deliminate and mature in sequence from base to apex as the conidium expands.

Diagram conidial development.

Photo Source: http://www.mycologia.org/content/97/1/238/F4.expansion

Mushroom of the Month: Pear Shaped Puffball

Is it already November? Well I guess it is time to highlight another mushroom. This week we will be running the per shaped puffball, Lycoperdon pyriformes, through an identification key.

Pear Shaped Puffball, Lycoperdon pyriformes

1. The mushroom does not grow on other mushrooms.
2. There are no gills.
3 There are no pores.
4. It lacks teeth or spines.
5. It isn't covered, or at least partially covered, by a foul smelling slime.
6. The mushroom is more or less shaped like a ball, or in this pictures case a ball raised on a stem.
7. The mushroom is smaller than the size of a fist.

This key gets us to the family Lycoperdaceae. For further keying to the species we will turn to a more technical series of identifiers:

1. The Spore case opens by pores or a fissure at the apex.
2. Has various base shapes but not radicating.
3. When mature the fruiting body looses part of its outer layer, but not in a way as to become star-like.
4. The spores inside the mature spore case are loose and powdery and any internal fibers are loose and soft.
5. There is a sterile base and chambered lacunae, with the exoperidium not peeling away from the spore case.
6. And finally, The mushrrom body is growing on wood or wood debris.

These key traits get us to Lycoperdon pyriforme:

1.5 to 3 cm broad; 2 to 3 cm high; pyriform to subglobose; may be plicate at juncture of enlarged portion with stipe-like base. Connected to substrate by numerous white rhizomorphs. Pallid to tawny brown immature, darker rusty brown at maturity -- some yellowish; areolate patches darker. Exo breaking into areolate patches that divide into smaller units, which on drying form minute granules. At times exo over apex consists of small spines and granules. Remains of exo relatively persistent and rough to touch. Apical pore slow to form, often irregular. Sterile base slight to prominent depending on shape. On wood or sawdust on ground, cespitose to scattered, September to heavy frost. Old cases persist to next summer.

 For more information here is the Wikipedia entry on this edible puffball:

Lycoperdon Pyriforme

Fungal Word Friday: Zygospore

A zygospore is thick-walled sexual spore formed by the fusion of two similar gametangia. It is, as the name suggests, characteristic of the Zygomycetes.

 

The zygospore stage of Rhizopus stolonifer.

Photo Cred: Course materials for BOT135 taught at University of Hawaii by George Wong.

Fungal Word Friday: Mycosis

A mycosis is a fungal infection in animals. This term is often associated with an area of infection, such as pulmonary mycosis.

Pulmonary mycosis

Photo Cred: Wiki contributor Nephron

Wastewater Washes Away Mycorrhizal Diversity

When man first began to settle out of the hunter-gatherer phase of our evolution we did so in fertile areas. We would perhaps stop where there was a constant source of water, and fair enough weather to allow us a safe and permanent homestead. But, as the world’s population increased those ideal spots became competitive and not everybody had access to things like constant supplies of water to manage crops with.

Enter irrigation: the best agricultural idea since somebody first dropped a seed in a hole.
In essence irrigation is simply transporting water from a source to a place where it is needed. Now, this has been going on a long time, evidence suggests the 6^th Millennium BCE, and we have developed a whole host of styles. But in the end they all do the same thing; take water from here to there.

Developing irrigation techniques allowed us to thrive in places without an immediate source of water, which opened the world up to us. It also led to a massive population boom (see everybody alive today).

And that is where we run into problems. You see as we grow more populous, we use more water, and leave more waste. So we are left with this transition: More access to water= more crops= more people= more waste= less clean water.

But worry not! People are the ones who ingeniously developed irrigation in the first place, and now all we needed were ways to take the waters we contaminated and use them instead of freshwater. And we have. The use of treated wastewater is one of the most used alternatives to freshwater for irrigation in areas of limited natural resources.

So, we have found ways to deal with dirty water: to take it and try to make it clean and reuse it. But the question is, at what cost? Now for most people here is where we would turn to crop yield, or potential health effects of eating foods grown with wastewater, but we both know that isn’t what I am concerned with.
And a study recently published in PLOS One helps shed light on another impact of irrigating with wastewater: the effect on fungal diversity.

Long-Term Effects of Irrigation with Waste Water on Soil AM Fungi Diversity and Microbial Activities: The Implications for Agro-Ecosystem Resilience

This study from Southeast Spain measured the effects of irrigating an experimental orange grove with treated urban wastewater over the course of 43 years.   The study included isolating and measuring Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) diversity in order to better understand techniques for management, sustainability, and productivity of the soils.

They researchers sequenced 145 AMF samples that were grouped into 19 types, all from the Glomeraceae family. They sequenced multiple times to ensure full coverage of fungal diversity in both the wastewater irrigates as well as samples from a control plot of land that has been irrigated with freshwater.
And there results demonstrated a significantly greater diversity of fungal species in the freshwater treated soils. With 15 different AMF types compared to only 10 from the Wastewater irrigated soils.

The team speculated that the addition of nutrients to the soil could be a cause of lower AMF diversity, an observation backed up by evidence that shifts in community composition in nutrient-rich areas leads to a reduced AMF diversity.

In this study they found a significant increase in enzymatic activities of alkaline phosphatase, urease, dehydrogenase, protease and β-glucosidase in the soils treated with wastewater. Previous long term studies measuring irrigation with municipal wastewater concur with this result on the activity of soil enzymes.

The enzymes in the soil, and the introduction of readily available organics in the wastewater allows for a significant increase in microorganism populations. That actually has a beneficial effect on the total microbial biomass in treated soils, but the increased microorganisms don’t help with the Mycorrhizal diversity. It leads to the conclusion that while treatment with wastewater does have several benefits, it selects for the AMF’s that are most able to tolerate higher levels of enzyme activity in the soil.

Using the results from this study could help us define methods to balance the soil microbiota to ensure the best yield per acre of healthy robust crops. See how I went back to crop yields there? And you thought I didn’t care about that.

Awesome Researchers:
del Mar Alguacil, M., Torrecillas, E., Torres, P., García-Orenes, F., & Roldán, A. (2012). Long-Term Effects of Irrigation with Waste Water on Soil AM Fungi Diversity and Microbial Activities: The Implications for Agro-Ecosystem Resilience PLoS ONE, 7 (10) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0047680

Photo Cred:
Wikipedia contributor Paulkondratuk3194

Fungal Word Friday: Chitin

Molecular Structure of Chitin

Chitin is a long chain polymer of the monosachride N-Acetylglucosamine. While it is important in many biological systems, forming the exoskeleton of arthropods, the radulus of mollusks and the beaks in squids and octopodes, the importance in the fungal world is that of the cell wall.


Fungal Cell Wall

Chitin is the chief component of the cell wall in Fungi. It is similiar in structure and purpose to that of cellulose in plant cell walls.

Photo Cred: Flickr user AJC1 http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajc1/

Tuesday Treat

Today I bring you an excerpt from "Mushrooms of America". There are some intersting mushroms listed in this video, but also it has some weird/unneeded parts. It does however mention Lawrence KS, and anything that mentions a town I know is cool by me.

 

Fungal Word Friday: Perithecium

An enclosed ascocarp characterized an apical ostiole and by asci arranged in a basal tuft or hymenium layer.

The Coral Spot fungus: Those red structures are perithecia.

Photo cred: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1009633 via wikicommons

Tuesday Treat

Yet another Tuesday has come by with me neglecting my duties. I am truly sorry, I have just been lazy recently in keeping my news feeds read. Until I can shift back into writing mode (I think I have a few journal entries lined up) I give you a guide to making spore prints:

And speaking of pores, I don't know if you can top this video of a mushroom releasing spores:

Unless it is maybe these morels:

Fungal Word Friday

Yeast

A single cell and usually ascomycetous fungus that has little or no mycelium, and typically reproduces asexually by budding, and has forms which cause fermentation.


Saccharomyces cerevisae - The most famous yeast of them all.

Photo Cred: Wiki Commons Contributor Bob Blaylock

New Feature! Monthly Mushroom.

I have to admit I feel bad about being a little Spore-adic in my postings the past few weeks. But it is a new month and I have a great new idea... Monthly Mushroom!

To be fair this is going to be kind of an off-shoot of Fungal word friday but more species centric. My goal is to pick a new mushroom on the first of every month. I will then run it through a key,this could be an actual Dichotomous key, or maybe just an online visual key (this month), and give you the defining steps along the way.

For our first ever specimen I give you:

What am I?

 

Our key today will be that found at www.mushroomexpert.com

 1. The mushroom is not growing on another mushroom.
 2. There aren't any visible gills.
 3. There are also no pores on it.
 4.  And it also does not show any teeth. (last weeks Fungal Word Friday)
 5. It is clear of the foul-smelling slime that would lead us down the Stinkhorn path.
 6. It is shaped like a cup, saucer, goblet, standing rabbit ear, or bowl. Which points us in the  direction of the Bird's Nest Fungi of Cup fungi.
 7. It; however, lacks the famous "egg" shaped spore packs that would say Bird's Nest, therefore we will pursue it as a Cup Fungus.

At this point the mushroom expert clarifies that "Cup Fungi" are not an actual scientific term, and that many of those that get put into this group are hard to key out without microscipic traits being analyzed. But we can still give it a go based off of the provided "incomplete" key:

1. The mushroom does not appear like a bird's nest with eggs. (A revisit of our last step.)
2. The cups do not grow partially underground when young. And do not peel back as they mature in star-like rays.
3.  They do are not growing in areas of recent burning, such as as campfire pit, or recently burned forest floor.
4. The margins of the cup lack any kind of eyelash or fringe. Also the underside of the cup appears smooth.
5. The cup has a definite stem at it's base.
6. The cup is growing from a stick, or woody debris. It is goblet shaped; having a black inner lining and a mottle brown and black outside. The cup tapers down to the stem base.
This sounds like our mushroom to me. The winner is... Urnula craterium, The Devil's Urn!

The Devil's Urn

 

Fungal Word Friday

Tooth

A tooth, in the fungal world, is a tapered structure bearing basidia on the fruiting body of some mushrooms, much the same way that gills do on others.

Teeth of Hericium americanum

Photo Cred: Me :-)

Mood Lighting for Hypocrea jecorina

Just picture the soft blue light glimmering off some well developed stroma, strong mycelial growth subtly reaching out with its probing filaments. Some sexual reproduction is going down today.

Now think of what it is like after that blue light so embodying of the twilight hour stays all the time, or never comes around at all. The light becomes harsh, showing off your conidiation, it is easy to see why stroma can't perform under such... revealing exposure. And while the velvet darkness can seem alluring, a constant darkness causes its own lack of enthusiasm, things may happen but the excitement oft isn't there, so it takes a while longer.

Hypocrea jecorina sporting
some sweet filamentous growth.

Or at least that is what a new study in PLOS One says regarding the sexual development of Hypocrea jecorina under a variety of light exposure growth regimes demonstrates.

Blue Light Acts as a Double-Edged Sword in Regulating Sexual Development of Hypocrea jecorina (Trichoderma reesei)

Light is important to the sexual development of many fungi. Take Neurospora crassa, it has a complex of photoreceptive proteins (the white-collar complex) that directly initiate and manage sexual reproduction. However; the equivalent complexes found in H. jecorina, the blue-light photoreceptors (BLR1 & BLR2), regulate blue-light-induced mycelial growth and cellulase gene expression and the photoadaption protein ENV1 regulates the mycelial growth and tones down the detection of light change, which helps promote sexual development by inhibiting asexual conidiation. Basically that means BLR 1&2 and ENV1 play mainly regulatory roles and are not necessarily essential for sexual reproduction.

To test whether visible light, and thus these photoreceptors, is required by the fungus for a sexually reproductive path, the researchers grew (on malt extract agar plates) H. jecorina under three separate light regimes; 24 hours of light a day, a 12 hour light/12 hours dark day, and a 24 hours of darkness day.

The monitoring revealed that even after 30 days, the strains grown under a full 24 hour light day showed no stroma growth. This means all that total illumination inhibited the sexual development of H. jecorina. Those growing with the balanced 12hr Light/ 12hr Dark days? They knew what was going on ;-). They had a solid mycelial growth with well developed stromata being observed in just 7-9 days. However, when we jump back over to the fungi grown under total darkness, we see stromata form, but they do so more slowly. Also the stroma of the 12L/12D strains showed surface growth of perithecia (A flask shaped fruiting body that contains the ascospores), while the perithecia developing in the stroma of the 24D samples were embedded deeper toward the interior.

These results demonstrated that different light variation greatly affected the sexual development of H. jecorina. While constant light completely inhibited Stroma formation, total darkness caused a slowdown of their growth as well. The second point explains why it has always been reported that light is required for stroma formation. Basically to induce proper sexual development Hypocrea jecorina  there must be light, but it needs to be shut off now and then. Maybe, get a dimmer swith installed and turn on some Marvin Gaye.

Awesome researchers:
Chia-Ling Chen, Hsiao-Che Kuo, Shu-Yu Tung, Paul Wei-Che Hsu, Chih-Li Wang, Christian Seibel, Monika Schmoll, Ruey-Shyang Chen, & Ting-Fang Wang (2012). Blue Light Acts as a Double-Edged Sword in Regulating Sexual Development of Hypocrea jecorina (Trichoderma reesei) PLOS One DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0044969

Photo Cred:
US Department of Energy Office of Science via Wiki-Commons

Foreign Spore Germination: Scientific American

This spore germination is special to me so be sure to go read it.

The reason it is special is that I covered the exact same journal right here on this blog.

However it shows how much I need to work in order to turn my humble blog into something of real quality. Ladies and gentlemen I give you the Scientific American writer Jennifer Frazer's much more eloquent take on the same research:

Deadly and Delicious Amanitas Can No Longer Decompose

I have so far to go...

Fungal Word Friday

Blastic

A method of conidial development in which a visible enlargement or swelling of a newly forming conidia is seen before it is delimited the growth of a septum.

Blastic Conidial Growth of Trichoderma harzianum

Photo Cred: US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory

Sorry

Sorry I haven't posted in like a week now. I finally have found a recent Journal entry to write about but haven't gotten to it.. but don't worry I will. For now just enjoy some  reindeer eating shrooms:

Fungal Word Friday

Peridium

The outer protective layer that covers spore producing bodies.

The white "cup" at bottom
is the remainder of a peridium.

Photo cred: Wiki Commons contributor Archenzo

Found Fungi: Mutinus caninus

So, I forgot to take lunch to work today and decided to go for a walk to pass the time. And what do you know, I found some stinkhorns! Even though they were mostly flaccid when I came across them, it wasn't hard to determine they were Mutinus caninus.

Flaccid Fungal Forest

Phallaceae and Acorn Caps



It's called a stinkhorn for a reason.

I especially love the last picture, you can really see those flies going to town on the spore slime.

How Some Frogs Fight Fungi: Bacterial Buddies

Around the world we are seeing mass populations of frogs go into population decline. Heck, my very first actual blog post was about how a group of frogs in Southeast United States found a way to survive. But it isn’t alone.

When looking at frog populations in the tropics one can find enough data to support the basic fact: Chytridiomycosis appears to be a cool weather disease.  For one, lower temperature on a cold blooded frog leads to a potentially weaker immune system. And for another thing, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, the fungus responsible for a large portion of these infections, doesn’t grow as well in temperatures over 25C.  That means frogs living in higher altitudes are more likely to suffer die-offs than those living in the lowlands.  B. dendrobatidis does exist in the lowlands, mind you; it just doesn’t produce the dramatic results.

But, as I briefly touched on in my first post, bacteria also help in warding off the pathogen. A study in PLOS One looks to analyze the bacterium growing on the skin of some persistent members of the frog genus Atelopus.

Surviving Chytridiomycosis: Differential Anti-Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis Activity in Bacterial Isolates from Thre Lowland Species of Atelopus

There are over thirty species of frog in this genus, with all but four facing sharp decline.  One of these remaining species, A. elegans, is standing strong even with B. dendrobatidis being well established in its population. What gives? This little guy should have met his mycelial maker!

A. elegans: I should be dead!

This study looks at the potential anti-fungal bacteria the species harbors, also comparing it to the microbiota of some closely related frogs that don’t appear to be infected with the pathogenic Chytrid. What they did was cultivate and isolate as many bacterial strains from roughly 80 specimens of three species of Atelopus: A. elegans, A. spurrelli, and A. limosus.  This resulted in 148 cultivated strains that were tested for anti-B. dendrobatidis activity.

The isolates of bacteria were streaked on plates which had been diffused with B. dendrobatidis to test for zones of inhibition as well as growth rates of the fungus throughout the dish. Along with each isolate a streak of E. coli was included as a control. E. coli is a bacterium which has been determined to have no inhibitive activity on B. dendrobatidis, and as such would act as a visual comparison of the active bacterial subjects.
After analyzing the growth plates, roughly 40% of the strains isolated from Atelopus elegans showed anti-fungal action.  In both A. spurrelli and A. limosus the percentage of active bacteria was much lower, 19% and 26% respectively.  In addition to the quantities of bacterial strains, this same correlation was viewable in quality of inhibition; two of the three most active strains being only found in A. elegans with the third also being found on A. spurrelli.

This seems to demonstrate that the only species of frog in the study which has tested positive for the pathogen employs a barrage of heavy hitting cutaneous bacteria to increase its resistance to chytridiomycosis.

While it acknowledges that laboratory conditions would differ from host the environment of the host frog’s skin; the research team believes the bacteria isolated in this study, specifically the two members of the Pseudomonas genus (P. tolaassii and P. aeruginosa) that showed strongest inhibitor action, could help combat the fungal pathogen in neotropical habitats as probiotic treatments.



Awesome Reasearchers: Sandra V. Flechas, Carolina Sarmiento, Martha E. Cárdenas, Edgar M. Medina, Silvia Restrepo, & Adolfo Amézquita (2012). Surviving Chytridiomycosis: Differential Anti-Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis Activity in Bacterial Isolates from Three Lowland Species of Atelopus PLOS One DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0044832

Photo Cred: Wiki Commons Contributor Phillip Weigell

Foreign Spore Germinations: io9 & MDC

Today I have found two separate but equally cool Fungal news articles that are done better than what I can do.

First is a piece by Esther Ingils-Arkell on io9.com who writes "Why are mushrooms more like humans than they are like plants."

In the article she gives a quick, fun read about the fact that mushrooms (and all fungi for that matter) are more closely related to humans (and all animals for that matter) than they are plants.

I found the second article already with its thallus spread throughout the internet; everywhere from Scienceblog to Science Daily to Daily Mail.  I think that I have found the appressorium of the story over at the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine though so that is the source I am giving you.

Treatment with Fungi Makes a Modern Violin Sound Like a Stradivarius

This article is about a discussion by wood researcher Professor Francis W. M. R. Schwarze, reporting on his study to modify the wood used in violin making, enabling a modern violin to sound as good as a Stradivarius.

Basically in his research, he discovered two species of fungi, Physisporinus vitreus and Xylaria longipes, that decay wood in such a way that they leave the wood scaffold structure intact. After treating wood with the fungi, and then taking steps to kill it off, the group made violins that were tested in a blind study and deemed the equivalent of the most famous of brands.

Spanish II Stradivarius Violin

If an actual research article becomes available I will try to keep a look out and revisit the specifics of this one.


Photo cred: Wiki Commons contributor Gryffindor

Foreign Spore Germination: Scientific American

Man It seems like more and more I am finding cool Fungi related stories being covered by reputable organizations. Today I bring you a piece from Scientific American.

How Ballistic Cup Fungi Fire Their Spores (and look cool doing it)

The article is about Ascomycete spore formation and release. It is a very good read + it has some cool videos, go now.

Fungal Word Friday

Stolon

A running hypha from which rhizoids and sporangiospores arise.



Stolon Hyphae of Bread Mold

Photo Cred: http://bricker.tcnj.edu/micro/micro13.html

Pestalotiopsis Gets a Backbone

The genus Pestalotiopsis is home to some well known plant pathogens. While generally not causing severe disease, they are always willing and ready to take advantage of weakened or injured foliage. One species, Pestalotiopsis microspora, even has a well documented ability of digesting polyurethane.



However; catagorizing the species within this genus can be quite daunting, it has a confusing taxonomic history. For instance the spores of Pestalotiopsis looks remarkably like Seiridium abietinum, except that S. abietinum lacks a multi-apendaged end.

Top Pestlotiopsis, Bottom Seiridium

Now a new study published in Fungal Diversity, hoping to clear up some of the mess, has conducted a multi-loci genetic analysis on 40 isolates comprised of 28 strains from Pestalotiopsis.

A multi-locus backbone tree for Pestalotiopsis, with a polyphasic characterization of 14 new species

After isolating the samples the team studied both morphology and genetic sequence data, focusing on 10 gene regions generally utilized to help resolve cryptic Pestalotiopsis species. Unfortunately most of the regions served limited purpose due to an inability to outline species boundaries, as well as a low success in PCR amplification. However; β-tubulin, tef1, and ITS all demonstrated themselves as strong marker regions. And while they each proved to be a good source to identify differences among species, working with all three gave exceptional mapping capabilities.

And what happened when all this data was analysed?... 14 new species:

Pestalotiopsis asiatica, P. chinensis, P. chrysea, P. clavata, P. diversiseta, P. ellipsospora, P. inflexa, P. intermedia, P. linearis, P. rosea, P. saprophyta, P. umberspora, P. unicolor and P. verruculosa.

But don't let adding new species make you think they are adding to the confusion, in fact this research gives a solid, in their terminology, backbone tree for the 22 known pestalotiopsis species. Using their research will prove invaluable to further studies in this genus.

Awesome researchers:
Sajeewa S. N. Maharachchikumbura, Liang-Dong Guo, Lei Cai, Ekachai Chukeatirote, Wen Ping Wu, Xiang Sun, Pedro W. Crous, D. Jayarama Bhat, Eric H. C. McKenzie, & Ali H. Bahkali (2012). A multi-locus backbone tree for Pestalotiopsis, with a polyphasic characterization of 14 new species Fungal Diversity DOI: 10.1007/s13225-012-0198-1

Video Cred: The New Haven Register
Photo Cred: