Basidiomycetes, and many other fungi, are generally considered light sensitive. Hyphal cultures do not grow as well in light, and we always keep them in the dark. Some mushrooms are different shades depending on whether they were exposed to light as they emerged; the unexposed ones being noticeably paler, suggesting a melanin-like protective mechanism. Recently, a fungus was discovered near oak ridge national lab that has a melanin-like pigment which is believed to harvest energy from nuclear radiation (I am not making this up).
And I can attest that the pilobolus experiment is a darn good one; they are amazingly accurate at shooting their spore near the light hole. You do not necessarily need any culturing equipment. If you have your students all gather some poo (from an herbivore, not dogs or cats or any other pets) that is fairly fresh and not dried out, it is a very interesting demonstration to follow the succession of organisms that begin to sprout. Keep the poo moist (just don't let it dry out). Pilobolus begins to emerge 1-2 weeks into the succession. Not all poo has pilobolus, but a lot does. This is why its a good idea to have your students each bring in a piece. hope that was helpful -Nick Rosenstock On Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 2:45 PM, Cochran-Stafira, D. Liane <[email protected]>wrote: > Some fungi such as Pilobolus use light as a "target" for shooting their > spore capsules. The fungus grows on cow patties and shoots toward light to > avoid getting spore packets on the same patch of manure. Instead, by > shooting towards light (up and out) they are more likely to land on grass > where another cow can pick up the spore packet in its food. The spores go > through the cow's gut and exit in a fresh manure pile. This makes an > interesting lab exercise. If you don't know any helpful cows, you can buy > the kit from Carolina or Wards - grow the fungus on rabbit manure agar, and > then put cups with small light holes in the top over the plates when the > spores are ready to shoot. You'll get a nice spatter of capsules around the > hole, and if an agar plate is set on top of the hole, you should get growth > of the fungus on the new plates. > > Fun way to show phototropism in fungi. > > **************************************** > D. Liane Cochran-Stafira, Ph.D. > Associate Professor > Department of Biological Sciences > Saint Xavier University > 3700 West 103rd Street > Chicago, Illinois 60655 > > phone: 773-298-3514 > fax: 773-298-3536 > email: [email protected] > http://faculty.sxu.edu/~cochran/ <http://faculty.sxu.edu/%7Ecochran/> > > <http://faculty.sxu.edu/~cochran/ <http://faculty.sxu.edu/%7Ecochran/>> > > ________________________________ > > From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news on behalf of Martin > Meiss > Sent: Tue 2/23/2010 7:41 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Fungi and light > > > > Maybe somebody familiar with cave biology could tell us whether guano > deposits far from the mouths of caves are beset with fungus. > On a similar note, the fungi raised underground by leaf-cutter ants > don't seem to mind the darkness. But what about those luminescent fungi in > rotting wood? Do they need light so bad they make their own? ;-) > > Martin Meiss > > 2010/2/22 Joshua Villa <[email protected]> > > > As far as I know fungi, like basidiomycetes, show positive phototropism > > (growing toward the light source), but don't necessarily need sunlight in > > their lifecycle for growth. I've never grown basidiomycetes in strict > > darkness, which may confound typical fruitbody formation. > > > > Joshua Villa > > > > > > On Feb 22, 2010, at 1:21 PM, Wayne Tyson <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > QUESTION: Some fungi live without light. Others live in the presence of > >> light. Apart from lichenization, do any fungi require light? If so, what > >> function does light perform? Are there any fungi that are indifferent to > >> light? > >> > >> WT > >> > > > -- PhD candidate: Ecosystem Science University of California, Berkeley 321 Koshland hall Berkeley, CA 94720
