Does anyone know why captive fungi and myxomycetes tend to need sterile or nearsterile conditions, but not in the wild? I’ve not been able to find satisfactory answers by googling. Even coprophilous taxa, which undoubtedly encounter a very large number of microscopics in the wild, seem to often nee…

In the wild there is constant competition with other organisms. Different species will win out in different circumstances depending on the exact conditions. The result is that overall, any species will find a niche to survive and reproduce (or would be extinct). But when we want to cultivate particu…

I suppose that your question just reflects how little we know about the functioning of Nature. First thing: competition. We know a little bit about it: fungi compete and even eat each other. But there is a part we know almost nothing about: co-existence and symbiotic relationships between fungi and …

[image] coniontises: Does anyone know why captive fungi and myxomycetes tend to need sterile or nearsterile conditions, but not in the wild? I’m just speculating, but I think such sterile substrates may be advised because most captive mushrooms are grown for human consumption. Most people are…

Sorry, but no. Sterile substrates are required for any fungi to grow axenic (pure) culture. For research, too, which is not known to be squeamish :-) Even edible mushrooms are grown sterily only because on non-sterile substrates mushrooms would be soon overcome with mould and pathogenic fung…

Really nice, clear explanation. We sometimes forget that everything we look at in nature is shaped by competition, and that extends to organisms we wish to selectively cultivate or keep captive as well.

I think I’ve not worded my question well. To rephrase: why are captive angiosperms often much more skilled at defending themselves from competing taxa than captive fungi and myxomycetes? Sure, you have to remove weeds that pop up in your houseplant’s pot, but houseplants are normally able to resis…

Theoretically, if you found a way to sterilize a plant without killing it - that is, remove all the microorganisms that aid its life, and plant it into a soil with limited nutrients and no microorganisms that will aid the plant, it will soon die, too. But the thing is that plants can “catch” the…

Небольшое дополнение. Ещё в ВУЗ-е, на парах по микробиологии, нам говорили, что далеко не все грибы растут на питательных средах. И это основательно затрудняет изучение микромицетов.

I’d agree that competition/interaction and metabolite production (not just antibiotics/antifungals) are key to this question, and most poorly understood. Any comparison with plants perhaps also needs to take into account relative size, diversity and abundance. The average plant will be competing wit…

Yes, this is right: many species of fungi do not grow on media at all - sterile or not. That is why now species counts based solely on obtained cultures are not considered valid. Metagenomics should be used for that, though it also has its own pitfalls.

Shrooms and sterility

Nature Talk

teellbee November 6, 2020, 3:02pm 4

I’m just speculating, but I think such sterile substrates may be advised because most captive mushrooms are grown for human consumption. Most people are squeamish about eating dirt and whatever bacterial (et.al.) load may be in it.

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Shrooms and sterility

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