Mushrooms
Basic Facts
What is a Mushroom?
Mushrooms are the above-ground fruiting bodies of FUNGI,
which contain the organisms’ reproductive spores
How many kinds are there?
There are approximately 1.5 million species of Fungi in the world;
Of those, 2,327 are used for edible or medicinal purposes
How big are they?
Mushrooms themselves can vary from anywhere between 1 mm and 1 m!
The largest known fungal organism is an Armillaria gallica in Crystal Falls,
Michigan. Called the “humongous fungus,” it is 1500 years old and weighs
over 9,700 kg ( > 100 tons, and almost the mass of an adult blue whale)
Aren’t mushrooms dangerous?
More than 200 species are poisonous, and some have hallucenagenic properties
Parts of a Fungus
Upper Veil
Pileus (or Cap)
Gills (or
Lamellae)
Hymenium
(interior Spore-producing layer)
Annulus
Stipe
Lower veil
Mycelium
Mycelium (gathering of
individual Hyphae)
(Mushrooms = reproductive region of a fungus)
REPRODUCTION in FUNGI
Some fungi can reproduce
with EITHER method!
Sexual
Spores
Haploid hyphae
Asexual
Compatible hyphae fuse
New mycelium
Individual
Spores develop
into clones of parent
New organism
(with traits from both parent
The How and Why of
Being Upright
Upright orientation allows spores to escape
vs.
Because of the
sticky sides
of the gills (the sporeproducing triangular
structures on the
underside of the cap,
spores cannot escape if the
mushroom is tilted…
Stress on the stem increases
as the degree of slant of the cap increases.
Maximum Stress vs. Angle of Slant*
55.00
50.00
Max Stress (Pa)
45.00
40.00
35.00
30.00
25.00
20.00
15.00
10.00
5.00
0.00
5
10 15
20 25 30
35 40 45 50
55 60 65
70 75 80
85 90
Angle
*For this example, Height = 10 cm, Diameter = 3 cm, Cup Diameter = 10 cm, C (Drag) = 0.1, Velocity = 10 m/s
Stress on the stem increases
as the stem's angles gets further from 90º
Torque on Mushroom*
0.500
0.450
Torque (N x m)
0.400
0.350
0.300
0.250
0.200
0.150
0.100
0.050
0.000
0
10
20
30
40
Angle
*For this example, the mass of the cap = 50 g
50
60
70
80
90
How does a mushroom
know which way to grow
to be upright?
Photomorphogenesis:
Dst1 is gene that encodes for
flavoprotein that acts as blue
light receptor
It uses the sun as a guide!
How does a mushroom stay upright?
According to Euler Buckling, the force needed to make a long beam fall over is:
F = nπ2EI/L2
So increasing E and/or I, and/or decreasing L will increase F
L
I
What happens if it falls over?
Inositol Triphosphate (IT) acts as a signaler within the plant (pic)
1. The IT in the plant collects at the root,
because it still knows where that is
2. The IT begins doing rounds up and
down the mushroom, to see if all the
organelles and things inside the
mushroom have fallen to one side. If
not, the mushroom may just be
swaying in the wind.
3. The IT tells the cells at the base of the
mushroom to elongate. This continues
along the stype of the mushroom,
eventually picking the mushroom back
up.
Mushrooms in Day to Day Life
• In Chinese folklore, certain types of mushrooms believed to
be a panacea (a cure-all).
•Secondary metabolites (or chemicals that are not used
directly for reproduction or growth) make some mushrooms
toxic and others mind altering.
•More specifically, the alkaloid responsible for some
mushrooms’ mind altering effects is Psilocybin.
•Psilocybin is being researched for its potential to help people
with mental disorders such as obsessive compulsive disorder.
Health Benefits
•Only a small percentage of mushrooms are edible (less than 10%). They
are high in protein, carbohydrates, and fiber but low in fat.
•Mushrooms are a good source of vitamins and nutrients such as thiamin,
riboflavin, ascorbic acid, and vitamin D2.
•Very few non-animal based foods are a good source of vitamin D, and
mushrooms are one of them!
•The injection of 6 edible mushroom species into Swiss albino mice reduced
the size of their tumors 72-92%. This is attributed to a polysaccharide called
Lentinan which has also been shown to reduce the toxicity of AZT – an
medication used to treat patients with AIDS.
•Three mushrooms in particular are being studied for, among other things,
their anti-cancer, anti-cholesterol, and anti-diabetic properties: (1) Shiitake (2)
Maitake and (3) Reishi mushrooms.
Shitake Mushrooms
•In Japanese, “Shii” is a type of tree in whose dead wood shiitake
mushrooms grow. “Take” means mushroom.
•Shiitake has a great deal of vitamin D and is being studied for its anticancer, anti-cholesterol, and anti-viral activity.
•There exists a strong correlation between Shiitake mushroom intake and
low cholesterol in rats.
•Young women who ate 90 grams of fresh shiitake mushrooms lowered
their cholesterol on average by 12%.
•Shiitake mushrooms showed anti-viral activity in mice injected with
influenza while 70 other plants and fungi including apples and spinach
showed none.
Bioremediation
•The American Heritage Dictionary defines bioremediation as “the use of biological
agents, such as bacteria or plants, to remove or neutralize contaminants, as in polluted
soil or water.”
•In Tanzania, mushrooms are used to digest agricultural waste.
•Fungal mats are used in mycofiltration, where they act as biological filters
•The mycelium in mushrooms can dismantle the carbon and hydrogen bonds that
make up pesticides, petroleum products, PCB’s, and other pollutants. This means that
mushroom beds have the potential to deal with disposed toxic waste in a way that
neutralizes its toxicity.
•In Washington State, soil blackened with oil was treated with a variety of techniques
including planting a mushroom bed. The other techniques failed, but the mushroom
bed flourished and attracted flies which in turn attracted birds, planting the seed for a
quick return to a normal ecosystem. Stamet described an “oasis” that existed where
previously there had been waste.
•One species of mushroom can be used to breakdown VX, the nerve gas agent that
Sodem Hussein allegedly loaded warheads with during the Gulf War.
•“Microfiltration” and bioremediation may be the future of toxic waste management!
FUNgi Facts
Some of the largest mushroom
colonies are so large that they can be
seen from airplanes or even satellites!
Mushrooms are more similar to
animals than plants!
Mushroom spores are made of chitin, one of the hardest natural
substances on Earth!
Some mushroom spores can sit dormant
for 10 years and still grow!