Colonial Growth of Fungi

Abstract

In a previous review in Volume I of this Series, entitled “The Mycelium as an Integrated Entity”, Trinci et al. (1994) treated hyphae and the mycelium from the viewpoint of growing and branching hyphae and linked these and other cellular processes to growth kinetics of the mycelium. The current chapter will focus on this integrated entity — the manifestation of fungal colony growth as the growth of a multicellular integrated organism — and consider how this organism has been studied in different growth systems and how it coordinates activities such as nutrient uptake and reallocation. The discussion revolves around plate cultures of fungi but soil plates more reminiscent of fungi in nature are also examined.