#hyphae

Recycling Tip

As components move along a factory assembly line, some parts are added and others removed to be returned to the start and reused, until the finished product arrives at the tip of the conveyor belt, ready for action. This is how filaments of some fungi develop, with a balance of material deposition at the growing tip, and reabsorption further back. A new study investigated how the protein actin (green in the timelapse of filament growth in the fungus Aspergillus nidulans, maintaining its function even as pink genetic material divides) drives this recycling, or endocytosis. They discovered an important role of a protein called Dip1 that seeds filaments so actin can form branching networks, as well as independent mechanisms that synthesise the seeds themselves. Taken together, the research reveals fundamental biology of cell shape and material trafficking, could point to potential anti-fungal vulnerabilities, and could inform biotechnologies using fungi as cellular factories to produce proteins or pharmaceuticals.

Image made using Leica Microsystems microscopy

Written by Anthony Lewis

Image from work by Marisa Delgado & Mario Pinar, and colleagues

Department of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, CSIC Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas Margarita Salas, Madrid, Spain

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in PLOS Genetics, August 2025

just me and my girls hanging out. transporting nutrients. forming fruiting bodies. creating mycorrhizal networks. Thats the dream

Sol stealer

Last week I had the opportunity to watch Web of Life at the cinema. I was so mind-blown that I needed to take notes 🍄

Those who know me also know how interested I am on the relationship between soil organisms and plants. Specifically, I spent the last year of university checking the colonisation rate of mycorrhizal fungi on basil (Ocimum basilicum) roots 🌱 I am grateful I could observe these small but fascinating beings ❤️

This film has been a source of great inspiration thanks to Merlin Sheldrake’s glowing charisma and immense passion-transfer skills ✨The way his eyes sparkled while talking about the essentiality of fungi for world survival was enough to make my arms go full on goosebumps 😍 Last but not least, Björk (the singer, yes!) is also the narrator 🔥

These are 5 facts that hit me the hardest:

1. Fungal genes carry A LOT of information. They are the living proof that you don’t have to have a brain to solve problems (i) 🧠

2. They have been around for millions of years, and during the most catastrophic events of Earth’s history they THRIVED (ii)💥

3. Fungal mycelium connects entire ecosystems, and if we would spread the world hyphae network, its length would be about HALF OF THE WIDTH of the Milky Way Galaxy (iii) 🪐

4. Plastic has been around for a relatively short time compared to fungi. Yet, they have the ‘chemical arsenal’ capable of breaking down polymers (iv) ♻️

5. Every year, around 50 MILLION TONNES worth of fungal spores are released into the atmosphere (v) 🌫️ Enormous amounts of species of fungi dispersing spores into the air can affect atmospheric moisture levels, which consequently trigger rainfall able to support their own as well as entire ecosystems survival 😱

Pic 1 - Basil roots colonised by mycorrhizal fungi I observed in 2020 (microscope);

Pic 2 - Mushroom seen from below I found during a walk in the Northumberland National Park;

Pic 3 - Popped fungal spore.

References:

i - https://arnosvale.org.uk/fungi-whos-really-in-control/#:~:text=Mycelium%20can%20be%20thought%20of,to%20solve%20complex%20microscopic%20mazes.

ii - https://www.britmycolsoc.org.uk/mycokids/how-old-are-fungi

iii - https://www.positive.news/environment/the-project-to-map-mycorrhizal-fungal-networks-and-why-it-matters/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CGlobally%2C%20the%20total%20length%20of,wonders%20of%20the%20living%20world.%E2%80%9D

iv - https://earth.org/plastic-eating-mushroom-of-the-amazon-and-ecuadors-development-dilemma/#:~:text=When%20Yale%20University%20students%20found,oxygen%2Dstarved%20environments%20like%20landfills.

v - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4624964/