Fast mushrooms struggle with small holes

There are millions of different species of fungi around the world, and many play extremely important roles in ecosystems. We now know more about a mechanism in fungi.

Japanese scientists have examined how fungi can squeeze through tiny holes, such as the pores of plant leaves. They grew seven different species in a system with all the microtubes. Some tunnels were smaller than the average fungal tentacle. They followed the growth of the fungi by tracking, among other things, fluorescent proteins in real time, and then examined how each species of fungus handled the extremely small tunnels.

They saw that one group of fungi easily adapted to the limited space, while another species stopped growing midway or just past the cramped tubes. Fast-growing mushrooms turned out to send too much building material to the end of their growing tentacles, trapping them. Fast growth can be a benefit in many situations, but when it comes to small holes, the way to go is slow.

Read more: Fungi squeezed through microchannels offer clues to cell growth.