Ballistospore discharge in Itersonilia perplexans

Webster, John; Davey, Robert A.; Duller, G.A.; Ingold, C.T.

doi:10.1016/s0007-1536(84)80207-7

Cited by 43 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Hymenomycetes discharge spores by a forcible mechanism, termed ''ballistospory,'' that is absent in Gasteromycetes. Structural features associated with ballistospory include short, curved sterigmata (the stalks that bear the spores), asymmetrical spores, and formation of a droplet of liquid at the base of the spore at the time of discharge (27). It appears that the suite of characters involved in ballistospory, once lost, has never been regained, which may explain why forms with exposed hymenophores have never been secondarily derived from Gasteromycetes.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of gilled mushrooms and puffballs inferred from ribosomal DNA sequences

Hibbett

Pine²,

Langer³

et al. 1997

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

330

156

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Homobasidiomycete fungi display many complex fruiting body morphologies, including mushrooms and puffballs, but their anatomical simplicity has confounded efforts to understand the evolution of these forms. We performed a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of homobasidiomycetes, using sequences from nuclear and mitochondrial ribosomal DNA, with an emphasis on understanding evolutionary relationships of gilled mushrooms and puffballs. Parsimony-based optimization of character states on our phylogenetic trees suggested that strikingly similar gilled mushrooms evolved at least six times, from morphologically diverse precursors. Approximately 87% of gilled mushrooms are in a single lineage, which we call the ''euagarics.'' Recently discovered 90 million-year-old fossil mushrooms are probably euagarics, suggesting that (i) the origin of this clade must have occurred no later than the mid-Cretaceous and (ii) the gilled mushroom morphology has been maintained in certain lineages for tens of millions of years. Puffballs and other forms with enclosed spore-bearing structures (Gasteromycetes) evolved at least four times. Derivation of Gasteromycetes from forms with exposed spore-bearing structures (Hymenomycetes) is correlated with repeated loss of forcible spore discharge (ballistospory). Diverse fruiting body forms and spore dispersal mechanisms have evolved among Gasteromycetes. Nevertheless, it appears that Hymenomycetes have never been secondarily derived from Gasteromycetes, which suggests that the loss of ballistospory has constrained evolution in these lineages.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of gilled mushrooms and puffballs inferred from ribosomal DNA sequences

Hibbett

Pine²,

Langer³

et al. 1997

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

330

156

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Buller's drop grows for a few seconds, and then the drop and spore simultaneously disappear from the sterigma. Buller's drop and the fluid on the spore contain sugars and polyhydric alcohols, including mannitol Webster 1995, Webster et al 1995). These compounds appear to drive the condensation of water on the spore surface by lowering its water potential (Webster et al 1989).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Buller's drop and the fluid on the spore contain sugars and polyhydric alcohols, including mannitol Webster 1995, Webster et al 1995). These compounds appear to drive the condensation of water on the spore surface by lowering its water potential (Webster et al 1989). The hydrophobicity of portions of the spore surface and details of spore morphology are thought to maintain the gap between Buller's drop and the fluid on the spore, until they reach a critical size and make contact (Money 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The captured launch of a ballistospore

et al. 2005

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Ballistospore discharge is a feature of 30000 species of mushrooms, basidiomycete yeasts and pathogenic rusts and smuts. The biomechanics of discharge may involve an abrupt change in the center of mass associated with the coalescence of Buller's drop and the spore. However this process occurs so rapidly that the launch of the ballistospore has never been visualized. Here we report ultra high-speed video recordings of the earliest events of spore dispersal using the yeast Itersonilia perplexans and the distantly related jelly fungus Auricularia auricula. Images taken at camera speeds of up to 100,000 frames/ s demonstrate that ballistospore discharge does involve the coalescence of Buller's drop and the spore. Recordings of I. perplexans demonstrate that although coalescence may result from the directed collapse of Buller's drop onto the spore, it also may involve the movement of the spore toward the drop. The release of surface tension at coalescence provides the energy and directional momentum to propel the drop and spore away from the fungus. Analyses show that ballistospores launch into the air at initial accelerations in excess of 10,000 g. There is no known analog of this micromechanical process in animals, plants or bacteria, but the recent development of a surface tension motor may mimic the fungal biology described here.

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“…Then, in the 1980s, evidences on the liquids on the spore were provided, and the surface tension hypothesis about the ballistospore discharge mechanism was advanced (and the electrostatic repulsion hypothesis rejected). For Buller's drop (that develops at a very small but complex organ of the spore [6] which externally looks like a minute projection at the spore and is called hilar appendix) it was shown that this is a drop of liquid and not a gas bubble [7,8]. In addition, the evidence indicated that Buller's drop is enclosed by a membrane at the early enlargement stage and at the late enlargement stage is exposed to the air [8,9].…”

Section: E (As [1·35±0·12]×10mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Now the evidence showed that a flat liquid pool (a film of liquid or a flat drop, called an adaxial drop) develops at the spore wall, above the hilar appendix [7,8]. The surface tension hypothesis involved two postulates: 1) as Buller's drop expands, it eventually touches the spore wall above the hilar appendix, resulting in a rapid wetting of the whole of the spore, and 2) this fluid movement causes the rapid redistribution of mass, creating linear momentum in the direction away from the sterigma (the spore-bearing projection of basidium), leading to separation of the spore from the basidium [7]. Calculations of the energy required to project the spore off the basidium showed that the surface energy of the drop could be sufficient to perform the work involved [5].…”

Section: E (As [1·35±0·12]×10mentioning

confidence: 99%

Primary basidiospore charge and taxonomy of Agaricomycetes

Saar

Parmasto

2014

Open Life Sciences

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This article deals with the polarity of electrostatic charges that are carried on ballistic basidiospores after their liberation from fruiting bodies. The spores were collected by placing a portable device beneath the basidiome and allowing them to fall in a horizontal homogeneous electrostatic field, created by vertical parallel plane electrodes. Thus, the experimental setup enabled to investigate the primary charges, the charges present on spores immediately after the release from spore bearing cells. Spores of 135 basidiomes of 50 species of hymenomycetous fungi were collected in various natural conditions. The non-turgescent (drying up, collapsing or ceasing to sporulate) basidiomes were excluded from the taxonomical analysis; the 128 turgescent basidiomes (223 spore samples) of 47 species were taxonomically analyzed. These species represented eight orders (Agaricomycetes, Basidiomycota), covering 21 families and 36 genera. The analysis showed that the spore charges were distributed according to the polarity similarly in all samples in a species, and in a genus. In most cases also genera of one family had the same type of polarity distribution of spore charges. Possibly all taxa from species to monophyletic families are characterized by specific type of polarity of the primary electrostatic charge of basidiospores. Depending on the taxonomical group, all spore charges were negative, positive, or both negative and positive charges were present. This information could be useful in investing the ballistosporic discharge mechanism and for constructing higher-level phylogeny.

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Ballistospore discharge in Itersonilia perplexans

Cited by 43 publications

References 14 publications

Evolution of gilled mushrooms and puffballs inferred from ribosomal DNA sequences

Evolution of gilled mushrooms and puffballs inferred from ribosomal DNA sequences

The captured launch of a ballistospore

Primary basidiospore charge and taxonomy of Agaricomycetes

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