COOL FUNGUS FACTS

  • The oldest fossil fungi are at least 545 million years old. These microscopic, aquatic forms were found in northern Russia.
  • According to archaeologists, people have been enjoying the products of fungal fermentation—wine and beer—for at least 25,000 years.
  • Ever seen a mushroom glow in the dark? You're not imagining it. Several Nova Scotian species, such as the Honey Mushroom, produce light by a chemical reaction called bioluminescence. People once used glowing pieces of fungus-infested wood to light their way in the woods. Foxfire is due to the luminescing mycelia of other fungi.
  • Fungi use antibiotics to fend off other microorganisms that compete with them for food.
  • The first hard evidence that diseases are caused by germs was provided when a fungus, Beauveriabassiana, was found to be killing silkworms in Europe in the early 1800s.
  • Throughout history people have used various mouldy concoctions to heal disease. Species of Penicillium were almost certainly the active ingredient.
  • If the scientists who developed penicillin had tested it on guinea pigs instead of mice, they might have given up their quest. Penicillin is toxic to guinea pigs and would have killed them.
  • The bracket fungus Ganodermalucidum has been used in Chinese medicine for about 4,500 years. It is said to promote long life.
  • In 1993, Chinese women athletes set a number of new world track records. Their success was partly attributed to a tonic prepared from the fruiting bodies of a fungus that invades moth caterpillars.
  • When other decomposers such as bacteria shut down for the winter, fungi remain active. Their metabolic processes generate heat. Some moulds carry on growing at temperatures as low as -7 degrees C. This of course is why even refrigerated bread turns furry eventually. We need to freeze foods at temperatures of -18 degrees C or less to preserve them from fungal decay.
  • Spontaneous combustion! Moulds and bacteria growing together in sawdust can generate so much heat the sawdust catches fire.
  • It can take 50-100 years for fungi to reduce a hardwood trunk to dust.
  • One of the first organisms to have its genome decoded was—you've guessed it—a fungus: baker's yeast, Saccharomycescerevisiae, in 1997. It has about 6,000 genes.
  • Ever wonder why air-conditioned rooms sometimes smell mouldy? Poorly maintained air-conditioners can house massive colonies of mould. Noxious gases emitted by these moulds may be the cause of "sick building syndrome."
  • A gourmet vole? The California red-backed vole feeds almost exclusively on false truffles. The truffles may depend on the vole to disperse their spores.
  • Under the Volcano? After Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, fungi were among the first organisms to recolonize the volcano.
  • In Europe, the practice of deliberately burning woodland to encourage growth of the delicious Morel mushroom had to be banned!
  • No one has yet found a reliable way of cultivating morel mushrooms. The New York Botanical Gardens tried for 40 years, but it is not economically practical.
  • The active ingredient in Beano®-the wind-reducing standby of the flatulent-is an enzyme derived from the mould Aspergillusniger.
  • The dried powder of old puffballs has been used as an astringent by First Nations.
  • Footnote: the fungal disease, athlete's foot only spread outside the tropics when international travel became commonplace about 100 years ago.