{"id":94779,"date":"2023-03-08T12:17:29","date_gmt":"2023-03-08T16:17:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=94779"},"modified":"2023-03-13T12:28:15","modified_gmt":"2023-03-13T16:28:15","slug":"how-does-fungus-reproduce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-does-fungus-reproduce\/","title":{"rendered":"How Does a Fungus Reproduce? Attraction, Sex, &#038; Spores"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>How does a fungus reproduce? What are the three steps of fungal reproduction?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All life forms reproduce by replicating their DNA and passing it to the next generation. This includes fungi, which is the main topic of Merlin Sheldrake&#8217;s book <em>Entangled Life<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Below we&#8217;ll outline the multicellular fungi&#8217;s typical process for reproduction, including what we know and what we&#8217;ve yet to learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-steps-of-fungal-reproduction\">The Steps of Fungal Reproduction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>How does a fungus reproduce? Surprisingly, the process is very similar to that of humans and other animals. Here are the three steps of fungal reproduction:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 1: Attraction. <\/strong>According to Sheldrake, fungi release sex pheromones (a chemical signal) to attract mates. (Shortform note: According to other researchers, fungal sex pheromones don\u2019t only <em>attract<\/em> mates. These sex pheromones can also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intechopen.com\/chapters\/79419\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">induce the creation of fungal sex organs<\/a>\u2014specialized hyphae that produce gametes (the equivalent of sperm and eggs).)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 2: Sex. <\/strong>After attraction, two fungi start having sex when a hypha from one mycelium fuses with the hypha of another. Their genetic material meets and combines in this fused channel.&nbsp; (Shortform note: We usually think of sex as something that happens between genetically different individuals. For a long time, scientists thought this was the only way organisms produced offspring with new genetic material. However, researchers <a href=\"https:\/\/today.duke.edu\/2013\/09\/aneuploidy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recently discovered<\/a> that this isn\u2019t the only way of producing new genetic material: Some fungi clone themselves, have sex with their clones, and still manage to create new genetic material for their offspring.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 3: Spore dispersal. <\/strong>After sex, one of the fungi grows flesh that develops into spores\u2014cells containing the new genetic material. Then, this fungus disperses those spores. Although not all fungi use mushrooms for this step, Sheldrake focuses on describing several of the ways mushrooms spread spores:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Explosive ejection: <\/strong>Some mushrooms eject spores into the air at high speeds. (Shortform note: Many of these mushrooms are able to achieve high speeds because they use <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC2528943\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fluid-filled tubes that shoot out spores, like a water gun<\/a>.)<\/li><li><strong>Animal consumption: <\/strong>When animals eat mushrooms, they deposit the spores within their feces in a new location. (Shortform note: Conservation biologists sometimes measure spore levels in animal feces to <a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1002\/edn3.281\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">predict the distribution of hard-to-find fungi<\/a>.)<\/li><li><strong>Invasion:<\/strong> Some fungi invade organisms\u2019 bodies. For example, <em>Ophiocordyceps<\/em>\u2014the \u201czombie ant fungus\u201d\u2014infects an ant, manipulates its behavior so it crawls to an elevated location, then bursts from the ant\u2019s head, showering its spores onto the forest floor.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: The popular genre of \u201cfungal horror\u201d often features plotlines that dramatize this last type of spore dispersal. In Jeff VanderMeer\u2019s 2014 horror novel <a href=\"https:\/\/us.macmillan.com\/books\/9780374537159\/annihilation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Annihilation<\/em><\/a>, which inspired <a href=\"https:\/\/skydance.com\/film\/annihilation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a movie with the same name<\/a>, a fungus-like organism emits spores that invade characters\u2019 bodies and alter their behavior. In Ling Ma\u2019s 2018 dystopian novel <a href=\"https:\/\/us.macmillan.com\/books\/9780374261597\/severance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Severance<\/em><\/a><em>, <\/em>a fungus reduces its victims to zombie-like shadows of their former selves. The 2023 TV show <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hbo.com\/the-last-of-us\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>The Last of Us<\/em><\/a><em>, <\/em>based on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.naughtydog.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a video game with the same name,<\/a><em> <\/em>explores similar themes: In this thriller, a fungus <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2023\/01\/30\/1151868673\/the-last-of-us-cordyceps-zombie-fungus-real\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">inspired by <em>Ophiocordyceps<\/em><\/a><em> <\/em>transforms people into zombies.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What We Still Don\u2019t Know<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Although mycologists have uncovered many of the ways fungi reproduce, Sheldrake claims that <strong>some fungal species\u2019 processes of reproduction remain shrouded in mystery. <\/strong>For instance, scientists have yet to observe the sex of the truffle, one of the most expensive edible mushrooms. Truffles currently only grow in the wild, so improving our understanding of truffle reproduction might make it possible to cultivate these sought-after mushrooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Mycologists have made some progress on better understanding truffle reproduction since Sheldrake published <em>Entangled Life <\/em>in 2020. For example, researchers <a href=\"https:\/\/nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/nph.17044\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recently discovered which genes in the desert truffle relate to sexual reproduction<\/a>. This research moves scientists closer to understanding how to cultivate desert truffles, which are likely to become increasingly important food crops in the Middle East as climate change accelerates desertification.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How does a fungus reproduce? What are the three steps of fungal reproduction? All life forms reproduce by replicating their DNA and passing it to the next generation. This includes fungi, which is the main topic of Merlin Sheldrake&#8217;s book Entangled Life. Below we&#8217;ll outline the multicellular fungi&#8217;s typical process for reproduction, including what we know and what we&#8217;ve yet to learn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[928],"class_list":["post-94779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","tag-entangled-life","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How Does a Fungus Reproduce? 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