Amazing Facts about Fungi

Hey guys,
I know it has been I while since I wrote my last post and I am very sorry for that. But I will try to compensate for that with today's topic: Fungi!!! Ok, that maybe doesn't sound like an interesting topic at first, but believe me, fungi are definitely one of the most fascinating and underestimated organisms and there are plenty of astonishing things I would love to tell you about them. As some of you might know I chose botany as one of my elective subjects and I actually enjoyed it a lot. I did not only learn about plants in general but also about fungi, which brings me to the first amazing fact:

Classification

Although the vast majority of people believe that fungi are plants, they are actually not. Fungi form an independent kingdom, just like plants and animals do. While I think it is clear for everyone that fungi aren't animals, the fact that they aren't plants maybe seems to be illogical. But I can tell you it is not. There is one important thing that distinguishes them from plants: Fungi are unable to do photosynthesis because their cell structure neither features chloroplasts, nor chlorophyll.

Cell structure

As I already mentioned before, the fungi's cell structure is special in many ways, but did you know that their cell walls features one main substance, namely chitin? I am sure you have heard about that substance before - Right! It is the same substance that the insect's shell uses for stabilization.

Mycorrhizae

Did you know that the majority of basidiomycetes, which we all know as "mushrooms", live in symbiosis with trees? The scientific term for these mushrooms is "mycorrhizae fungi". This union of mushroom and tree is very beneficial for both sides. The tree receives nitrogen and phosphor from the fungus while the fungus gets glucose from the tree. This explains a lot of things, e.g. why mushrooms mostly grow in forests, or why the best season to collect them is autumn. It is quite simple: In spring and summer the tree needs a lot of glucose as fuel to grow and to form new leaves. In autumn the tree stops growing and starts to store the glucose in its roots. That means that there is a lot of glucose available for the mushroom to grow.

Penicillin 

I believe everyone has taken penicillin at least once in their life, even if you didn't know. Penicillin is the most important antibiotic used in medical treatments. It is formed by a fungi that exists in two different forms: penicillium and talaromyces. But did you know how its ability to destroy bacteria had been discovered?
The first man to discover the antimicrobial qualities of penicillium was Ernest Duchesne in the late 19th century. At a military hospital he noticed that the ostlers stored saddles in dark, humid rooms, where mould started to grow on the saddles. When he asked them why they did that, they responded that if they put these saddles on the back of horses with chafe marks, the wounds would heal better. Duchesne then prepared a solution from these fungi and tested it on sick guinea pigs. Every single guinea pig recovered after the injection.

I could continue writing for pages about how fascinating fungi are, but I don't want to bore you with too much science (hope I didn't already ...).

See you soon,
Anja