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Everyday fungi
You will find fungi in your everyday life, even if you don't know they're there. Here are a series of articles demonstrating the impact of fungi on your day-to-day, and the vitally important role they play in the natural environment and in our lives:
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Fungi's essential role in carbon storage
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The influence of fungi around town
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Life saving impact of fungi on cardiovascular disease
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Ever wondered what it's like to go on a fungal foray?
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Antifungal medications that relieve our pains, and how the fungi are becoming resistant to them
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What could fungi have to do with the LGBTQ community?
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Sustainable insulation for our homes using fungal mycelium
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The love-hate relationship of fungi and insects
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What climate change does for fungi and the subsequent risks to coffee and bananas
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The use of fungi in archaeology
How much do you know?
Download our fungus-themed quiz here and test your knowledge, or take it to your pub to incorporate into an autumn pub quiz, or just have fun at home and find out what you do or don't know. NOTE: The answers are on the last page so don't look ahead if you want to test yourself!
Belowground carbon and fungi
The primary carbon sequestration of fungi is through their symbiotic relationships with plants. Approximately 90% of plant species worldwide can form mycorrhizal associations, that influence seedling survival, plant nutrition, growth, and resistance to disease, pollutants and droughts through more efficient water uptake and extended reach. Plants rely on mycorrhizal fungi to survive.
Fungi about town
On a brief mycological journey through Falmouth town centre we probably spent 5-10 minute outside each shop / location and we were able to discuss the relevance of fungi in our everyday lives without stepping into a forest, or travelling more than 2 minutes walk from the urban centre. Fungi are all around us and there is always an opportunity to showcase this amazing group.
Image: Falmouth town centre
Fungi and statins
Statins were discovered by a Japanese biochemist, Akira Endo, who was inspired by Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin to look for other useful fungal compounds. Since then, other statins have been produced either directly from fungi such as Aspergillus terreus or synthetically and have massively reduced cardiovascular disease. The most commonly prescribed statin is Atorvastatin and this is produced synthetically from mevalonate, a secondary fungal metabolite.
Meet a field mycologist
Stephen Plummer has been going to fungus forays for a number of years, having bought a microscope and joined a local fungus group. Stephen explains that getting into fungi is not the easiest thing and has suggestions for how to get involved.
The rising threat of fungal diseases and antifungal resistance
You may think of fungi just as mushrooms in the forest, or moulds on food, but there are probably over 5 million different species of fungi and some of them can infect us and cause serious disease. For a long time we have had a small number of antifungal medications that have been used quite effectively to treat fungal infections, from simple athlete's foot creams, medicated shampoos, or powerful injected drugs used to treat life-threatening fungal diseases in hospitals. But now, fungi are becoming increasingly resistant to many of our antifungal drugs.
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What's queer about fungi?
What could fungi have to do with the LGBTQ community and queerness? Many queer people like to look to nature for examples of queerness, and when we do this, fungi tend to stand out. When we talk about nature being ‘queer’, it is not necessarily that there is anything in fungi that would ever be directly related to an LGBTQ identity. However, they can remind us that some of our widely accepted, but overly simplistic ways to understand sex, gender, reproduction, and identity are not universal in the natural world. Fungi not only live outside our concepts, but do so in a multitude of different ways!
Fungi as sustainable insulation for homes
With a considerable portion of energy in homes going towards heating and cooling, the need for effective insulation has never been more critical. This is especially true as temperature extremes become more frequent and severe, compounding the current problem. Traditional insulation like expanded polystyrene and mineral wool are effective insulation materials but come with unignorable environmental costs. They're energy-intensive to produce, take thousands of years to degrade, can be toxic and flammable, and drain natural resources. Enter fungi- specifically, fungal mycelium.
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Image: Mycelium based composite
Fungal-insect relations
Some insects form mutualistic relationships with fungi where the fungi provide nutrients or shelter, and the insects contribute to spore dispersal. However, fungi are not always beneficial to insects; they can act as pathogens, significantly influencing insect population dynamics and community structure. A notable example are Cordyceps species, which infect and manipulate insect behaviour to increase spore dispersal.
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Image: Tree cricket with multiple white cordyceps fruiting from it (credit Max Mudie)
Fungi, coffee, bananas and climate change
Coffee rust (a disease caused by the fungus Hemileia vastatrix). along with additional pressure from climate change and wider global trade increasing the geographical spread of pathogens, threatens crops (and cups) of coffee. Likewise, bananas are sensitive to temperature rises, and the warming world helps the spread of Fusarium oxysporum, a fungal infection deadly to banana trees.
The hidden world of fungi in archaeology
Fungi are incredibly resilient. Viable fungal spores have been found preserved in Antarctic ice-cores dating to over 3 million years ago. This extraordinary longevity means that fungi can provide a biological window into the distant past, offering clues about ancient environments and ecosystems. With modern sequencing technologies that can be used to detect and identify fungal DNA, and biochemical techniques that can detect trace quantities of fungal metabolites, it is possible to identify species present at archaeological sites and build up a better picture of distant lives and cultural practices.
Tonnes of mushrooms
In the United Kingdom we produce 106,000 tonnes of Agaricus bisporus (button mushroom/common mushroom/white mushroom) each year, worth a total of £245 million. (Chestnut and Portobello mushrooms are also Agaricus bisporus - at different stages of growth.)
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Image: Button mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus)
Santa Claus's reindeer
The origins of Santa’s flying reindeer may link back to the Saami reindeer herders of northern Scandinavia. The herders were said to feed their reindeer Fly agaric mushrooms (Amanita muscaria) – with psychedelic properties that made the reindeer leap around.
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Image: Fly agaric (Amanita muscari)
Conservation
Despite being essential for the existence of life on Earth, fungi are the most under-represented group on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. See The Global Fungal Red List Initiative for how you can help increase the fungi on the list.
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Image: Marsh Honey Fungus (Armillaria ectypa) – endangered in Great Britain. Credit: Pärismaalane, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Making cocoa
Several yeasts are involved in cocoa fermentation (including Hanseniaspora opuntiae, Pichia kudriavzevii and Saccharomyces cerevisiae), producing higher alcohols and acetylCoA to make acetate esters that give chocolate its floral and fruity aroma.
Image: Saccharomyces cerevisiae - Baker’s yeast. Credit: Bob Blaylock, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Carbon storage
Fungi that form beneficial links with plant roots are thought to contribute to around 181 billion tonnes of carbon storage in above-ground biomass - about 3-times higher than global energy-related emissions.
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Image: Fungal threads (arbuscles and hyphae) in root of Macrotyloma uniflorum (horse gram or kulthi bean). Credit: Rajarshi Rit CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
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What actually is a fungus?
For hundreds of years, all fungi were considered to be plants. It wasn’t until the mid-20th century that fungi were moved from the Plant Kingdom to their own new Kingdom by ecologist Robert Whittaker, who based it on how fungi obtained their food amongst other differences.
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Image: A fungus (Pholiota squarrosa). Watercolour, 1897. Wellcome Image Library
Antidote to toxic mushroom
The Death Cap mushroom, Amanita phalloides, is responsible for about 90% of mushroom-related deaths globally. Australian and Chinese researchers believe they have found an antidote to the toxin: a green dye used in medical imaging.
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Image: Amanita phalloides (Death Cap fungus) Credit: Cricket Raspet CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Producing medicines
Cephalosporins are a large group of antibiotics derived from Acremonium moulds. They are used to treat MSRA and other multidrug resistant bacterial infections and have a global market size of £14.6 billion per year.
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Image: Acremonium falciforme. Credit: Public Health Image Library