Hi, my family’s name is fungi, and we consist of a large group of funny guys. Although we all belong to this vast family, we do not look very much like each other. And the funny thing is, even some of my closest brothers and sisters have their own unique preferred foods or behave in relatively diverse ways when they react to the external environment.
Fig. 1 Pictures of different fungi
My family likes to live and stay together because we think it is safer for us and will allow us to survive well. At the same time, we are also picky with how we live. We demand enough space to live, and we have our personal food preferences. We are also quite strict with our daily routine, which means there is no way to make us skip even one status of our life cycle. Any environmental changes could influence us. But do not worry, we easily survive in a wide pH and temperature range, even a harsh conditions.
Fig. 2 Fungi life cycle
To let you know more about our daily life-24h, I would like to describe my typical growth day for you.
We usually stay in a – 80-degree freezer to maintain dormancy but do not underestimate us, we are still alive. During this stage, we keep our shape as spores or conidia to wait for the best moment to be shining again. Just like in real life, you must stay still and prepare for the right moment.
At 8 am, I normally wake up and stay in a warm room to warm my body up in the morning. After 1 hour, I go to my job and start working in a suitable environment containing sugar, different salts, an appropriate temperature, and pH to propagate my population together with my brother and sisters. After 4h in this environment, we begin to germinate to explore the external world a bit. As you already know, you need more space to move your body when you are exploring the world frequently. During this period, we require the external environment to be in the best condition. Between 4-8 h, almost all of us grow significantly, obtaining longer bodies to sense the outside and start communicating with other brothers and sisters via our particular signals. The germinated part of our bodies will elongate to become mycelium and hyphae, and all cells have their own room to stay in through forming a cell wall between each cell between hours 8-24h.
Fig.3 Daily routines
Oh! Forget to tell you, we also have a growth lag phase to adapt and adjust ourselves to the new environment. We still have our appetite, but we can also stay still without germination if the environment contains no foods that we like. As just mentioned to you previously. Our growth in this sense stops right away or slows down until we meet our preferred living conditions.
After growing for 24h, we are ready to go.
I am so glad to share my typical day with you!!!
Reference:
https://www.fungusfactfriday.com/009-overview-of-the-fungal-life-cycle/
https://www.microbiologybook.org/mycology/2018mycology-5.htm
