January 30, 2010
Animals do it. Plants do it. And fungi do it…much of the time anyway. Reproduce sexually. If you sat through Biology 101 (as did I) you no doubt learned that despite its drawbacks (energetically expensive, dangerous with predators always lurking nearby), there are big advantages to sexual reproduction. Namely, it’s how living organisms come about genetic variability…which drives evolution.
Still, there is one group of tiny organisms that have shed the yoke of sexual reproduction–millions of years ago. And they’ve not succumbed to evolutionary pressures. And for a long time scientists have asked HOW? And how–without genetic recombination–have these little guys been able to keep from being wiped out entirely by their arch nemesis: FUNGI? (That’s the fungal mycelium emerging from the rotifer in the picture.)
Bdelloid rotifers are freshwater invertebrates that abandoned sexual reproduction millions of years ago. Coming out next week in the prestigious journal Science, a team of researchers at Cornell University show that cultured populations of bdelloids can rid themselves of a deadly fungal parasite through complete desiccation (anhydrobiosis) and disperse by wind to establish new populations in its absence. Thus, their results may help to explain the persistence of the anciently asexual Bdelloidea.
But wait…there’s more! Check out this link to watch a really cool movie of Rotifers getting eaten alive by their fungal predotors. Strict mycophiles only…not for the mycophobic! (It’s actually really amazing to watch!)
http://www.sciencefriday.com/videos/watch/10266
January 21, 2010
Check out friend of Fungi magazine and mushroom expert David Campbell of Mycoventures as he cooks on a Bay Area (California) tv program. Wow, I can almost smell the mushrooms! Feel like going on a truffle adventure in Europe or searching the West for boletes? Check out his site.
Here’s the link to the cooking show:
http://www.mycoventures.com/MycoVentures/Home.html
January 6, 2010
What food group are mushrooms in? -Marjie M.
Marjie:
Ha!…that’s a very good question, if speaking strictly biologically. Their chemical makeup would likely favor them being placed with vegetables as they are mostly water and fiber (albeit different fiber than that of plants), plus some important nutrients. But their reason for being–to put it teleologically–would make one want to place them with the fruits, as they are devices for the purpose of sexual reproduction, as are true fruits of plants (including tomatoes, pumpkins, cucumbers, and eggplants, thus anything with seeds). But, evolutionarily speaking, fungi are more closely related to animals like us (than they are to plants)…so does that more correctly place them in the meats group? Something to ponder indeed.
I’ll have to put this to the readership of FUNGI magazine! Thanks!
By the way, my own diet would likely raise eyebrows…I’ve my own personal Four Food Groups (essential to me, anyway), for which Irish coffee is about the only single food item containing all four: fats, caffeine, sugar, and alcohol.
-Britt
