Date: Fri, 07 Feb 1997 17:43:59 -0800 From: th_dewitt@ccmail.pnl.gov (Theodore H Dewitt) To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg519$foo@default> Subject: Carnivorous fungi
I just learned of the existence of carnivorous fungi from a colleague
at work. This really blew me away. I don't recall reading about this
in any books on CPs (granted, most of us are primarily interested in
flowering CPs; or maybe I just skipped over that part), and thought it
might be new to others on this list too. My apologies if this is an
old and beat-to-death topic. I have only read bits & pieces from a
few papers (a short bibliography is given below), but as a start,
here's a little of the natural history. Apparently there are dozens
to hundreds of fungi that are predatory to nematodes. They produce
special mycelial structures to trap the worms, which may be adhesive
branches, networks, or knobs, or hyphal rings that trap by
constricting or passively snaring (non-constricting) their prey.
[Other fungi can kill & consume nematodes via ecto- or endoparasitism
of eggs or sedentary females - but these don't strike me as unique as
the predatory fungi]. The size of the traps runs from 5 um to 50 um
(microns). There is some evidence that some fungi may gain some
nutritional benefit from nematodes, but it seems many of the fungi are
at least opportunistically saprophytic also. Some species live in
soil and others in nutrient-poor rotting wood (there are probably
other habitats too). Predatory fungi have been studied since the
1880's, and are of commercial/agricultural interest for their
potential to control phytophagous nematodes. The fungi can be grown
on special media (agar plus additives) - but I don't know how easy
this is to do. At least some of the fungi include mushrooms (such as
the edible Oyster mushroom, Pleurotus pulmonarius; see paper by Thorn
& Barron), but I imagine many species don't have much ornamental value
(but that's just my opinion). That's all I know (I'm not a
mycologist, and apologies for gross errors); maybe others on the list
can add to this brief natural history.
So, for those of you who may have mastered & collected all of the
flowering CP's, perhaps the world of carnivorous fungi will be your
next challenge! ;-)
Regards,
Ted DeWitt
Alam, M.M. 1990. Nematode destroying fungi. in "Nematode Bio-Control:
Aspects & Prospects" (M.S. Jairajputi, M.M. Alam, and I. Ahmad, Eds.).
CBS Publishers, Delhi, India.
Dijksterhuis, J., M. Veenhuis, W. Harder, and B. Nordbring-Hertz.
1994. Nematophagous fungi: physiological aspects and
structure-function relationships. Vol. 36. "Advances in Microbial
Physiology" (A.H. Rose and D.W. Tempest, Eds.). Academic Press, New
York. pp. 111-143.
Galper, S., L.M. Eden, G.R. Stirling, and L.J. Smith. 1995. Simple
screening methods for assessing the predacious activity of
nematode-trapping fungi. Nematologia 41: 130-140.
Jansen, C. and G. Lysek. 1991. Direct observation of trapping
activities of nematod-destroying fungi in the soil using fluorescence
microscopy. Microbiol. Ecol. 85: 207-210.
Jansson, H.B. and B. Nordbring-Hertz. 1980. Interactions between
nematophagous fungi and plant-parasitic nematodes: attraction,
induction of trap formation and capture. Nematologia 26: 383-389.
Quinn, M.A. 1987. The influence of saprophytic competition on nematode
predation by nematode-trapping fungi. J. Invert. Pathol. 49: 170-174.
Thorn, R.G. and G.L. Barron. 1983. Carnivorous mushrooms. Science 224:
76-78.
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