Mushrooms by magic: making connections between signal transduction and fruiting body development in the basidiomycete fungusSchizophyllum commune

Abstract

The basidiomycete fungus Schizophyllum commune has been utilised as a model system for examining the genetic regulation of sexual reproduction, a process that culminates in the production of mushrooms in this and many other related species. Recent studies have suggested that conserved elements of the cyclic AMP (cAMP) signalling pathway play a role in the control of mushroom development in S. commune. The small G-protein Ras also appears to impinge on the process, either by inputting into the cAMP pathway, or by acting in parallel. The molecular connections between nutrient sensing and mushroom development are now beginning to be examined.

Basidiomycosis: Schizophyllum commune Osteomyelitis in a Dog

“…commune is a mushroom that colonizes rotting wood and has a wide global distribution. It maintains itself via a complex life cycle that includes fruiting bodies (mushrooms), basidia, basidiospores, homokayons, dikaryons [7]. This case demonstrates extra-respiratory infection of S. commune in a dog is possible, confirming a previous report.…”

Emergence of self-organised oscillatory domains in fungal mycelia

“…Sensing of internal sugar levels may be mediated by a monomeric G-protein, Ras/cAMP/PKA pathway and/or hexose kinase (Hxk2) that antagonises the Snf1/Mig1 pathway needed for de-repression (Rolland et al, 2001(Rolland et al, , 2002Santangelo, 2006). A number of homologues to components of these pathways have been identified in filamentous fungi, particularly Neurospora and Aspergillus (Flipphi et al, 2003;Li and Borkovich, 2006;Palmer and Horton, 2006;Divon and Fluhr, 2007), but even a partial pathway awaits characterisation in a cordforming basidiomycete.…”

Opposing developmental functions of Agrocybe aegerita galectin (AAL) during mycelia differentiation

“…With the wide application of molecular techniques, numerous fruiting related genes have been characterized. Mutational analysis has shown cAMP signalling transduction to be important in the fruiting body development of S. commune (Palmer & Horton 2006). In C. cinereus, ich1, eln2, and spol1 (Bertossa et al 2004) and Cfs1 (Liu et al 2006) were characterized during different stages of development.…”