Fungi Spores Travel At Very High Speeds

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Main Category: Water - Air Quality / Agriculture
Also Included In: Biology / Biochemistry
Article Date: 24 Sep 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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Researchers Nik Money (Miami University, Oxford, Ohio) and Diana Davis and Mark Fischer (College of Mount St. Joseph, Cincinnati, Ohio) have discovered some fascinating information about the survival skills of a type of fungus that feeds on feces. Microscopic coprophilous - dung-loving fungi - break down the tons of feces that are produced by herbivores. The efforts of these fungi make our planet habitable, but they face a particular challenge. In order for the fungi to survive, herbivores must consume their spores. However, few animals will actually graze on grass next to their own dung. In an article published in the open-access journal PLoS One, the research team has shown that evolution has given the fungi an impressive array of survival methods. The spores discharge from cow dung like microscopic catapults, trampolines, and squirt guns.

Special high speed cameras that can capture up to 250,000 frames per second were employed by the researchers that enabled them to capture the incredibly fast-moving spores. The spores are catapulted at speeds up to 25 meters per second. This impressive speed corresponds to accelerations of 180,000 g - the fastest flights in nature, in terms of acceleration.

One significant aspect of the paper is that it is the first study to use ultra-high-speed video cameras to look at how ascomycete and zygomycete fungi spores discharge. Predictions of ballistic parameters are usually estimated from models that produce erroneous values of velocities and accelerations. From these estimates, researchers have concluded that pressures within the spore guns were very high. Osmosis generates pressure in fungal cells, and several spectroscopic methods were used by the authors of this recent study to identify what chemical compounds were responsible for driving water influx into the guns.

The analysis demonstrated that the level of pressure used to discharge spores is characteristic of the cells that make up the feeding colonies of fungi. This means that the extended flights taken by the spores are not the result of abnormally high pressure, but they are a result of the manner in which explosive pressure loss is associated with the propulsion of the spores. The researchers liken the path of the spores to ink droplets that are expelled through nozzles on inkjet printers.

The authors also note that their research, "has implications for the fields of plant disease control, terrestrial ecology, indoor air quality, atmospheric sciences, veterinary medicine, and biomimetics."

The Fastest Flights in Nature: High-Speed Spore Discharge Mechanisms among Fungi
Yafetto L, Carroll L, Cui Y, Davis DJ, Fischer MWF, et al.
PLoS ONE (2008). 3(9):e3237.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0003237
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About PLoS ONE

PLoS ONE is the first journal of primary research from all areas of science to employ both pre- and post-publication peer review to maximize the impact of every report it publishes. PLoS ONE is published by the Public Library of Science (PLoS), the open-access publisher whose goal is to make the world's scientific and medical literature a public resource.

About the Public Library of Science

The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. For more information, visit http://www.plos.org

Written by: Peter M Crosta
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

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