Mycelium

Function

The mycelium has 2 functions:

secretion : it secretes powerful Enzyme S enabling him to break up the most resistant organic matter (wood for example) by breaking the Polymère S in Monomère S.
absorption : the mycelium absorbs the carbonaceous elements necessary to the survival of its cells by facilitated Diffusion and active Transport.

The mycelium plays also a vital part in several ecosystem S while contributing to increase the effectiveness of the absorption of water and the Nutriment S many Plante S and is also essential with the decomposition of the plants to form the organic part of the ground and to slacken the Carbon dioxide in the Atmosphère.

Biology

The Germination of a Spore gives rise to a mycelial filament Haploïde (N Chromosome S) called primary education mycelium . But this last sterile remainder. It should meet another primary education filament carrying an opposite sex. This meeting will give a secondary mycelium fertile carrier of cells to two cores (2n chromosomes). The mycelial filaments ramify and divergent in all the directions. Under ideal conditions, the mycelium then forms a disc on the surface of the substrate.

When a mycelium accumulated sufficient reserves and that the climatic conditions are favorable, a Primordium develops jusquà to form a Carpophore (left visible mushroom) which will give in its turn birth with spores.

Longevity

The lifespan of a carpophore is short: from a few hours in a few months for the Polypore S. In general, it lasts a few days. On the other hand, the lifespan of the mycelium is much longer. After its fructification, he does not die but he continues to vegetate until he exhausted all the resources of the Substrat. With time, the central zone empties little by little its contents: the disc is transformed into ring. It is then able to move up to 40 cm per annum with a growth Centrifuge provided that it does not meet an obstacle and has a good substrate.

When the mushroom reproduces, the Sporophyte S which it emits following this displacement will be them also arranged out of ring, the famous Ronds witch (not always very round). This discrete phenomenon in Forêt is seen well in the meadows.

Secretions of the mycelium enrich the ground in Azote and the grass appears greener then at the places materialized by the round of witch.

A mycelium can put itself at rest several months or several years before giving a carpophore (cold, Sécheresse) then to take again its growth.

Properties

The mycelium has a great capacity of penetration and dissemination in the substrate.

Ten cubic centimeters of a ground fertile and very rich in organic matters can contain up to 1 km of mycelial filaments of an average diameter of 10 micrometers. Its speed of development can reach 1 km per day when it ramifies under optimal conditions. Its growth is always carried out in length, and not in thickness, in order to increase its capacity for absorption.

In the Michigan, with the the United States, researchers measured a mycelium which occupied with him only a surface of 15 hectares, weighed more than 100 tons and was old of more than 1500 years. In the Oregon, a Mycélium of the species Armillaria ostoyae covering nearly 9 km (880 hectares) was identified in 2000 by tests of DNA.

Example

The baker to make Pain uses a mushroom: the Yeast of the baker (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). The yeast carries out a fermentation which produces carbonic gas, which makes raise the bread.

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