1 00:00:01,960 --> 00:00:07,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:11,440 Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum Here. Unless you're a mushroom lover, a gardener, 3 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:15,560 Speaker 1: or someone especially prone to skin infections, fungi might not 4 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 1: hold much interest for you. After all, fungi generally keep 5 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:24,120 Speaker 1: themselves hidden, and when they do show up, it's often unwelcome. 6 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:28,639 Speaker 1: You end up with a discolored and misshapen toenail, or 7 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:31,040 Speaker 1: the shrub in your yard has brown spots all over 8 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:34,760 Speaker 1: its leaves, or there's a layer of slime on your leftovers. 9 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:38,120 Speaker 1: For the article this episode is based on, it has 10 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:41,720 Speaker 1: Stuff Work. Spoke with Maren Brewer, Associate Professor of mycology 11 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:44,400 Speaker 1: that's the study of fungi in the Department of Plant 12 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:49,239 Speaker 1: Pathology at the University of Georgia. She said, Unfortunately, a 13 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:52,680 Speaker 1: lot of what the general public knows about fungi is bad. 14 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:54,960 Speaker 1: We focus on the ones that are causing plant or 15 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 1: human diseases, but in general, the vast majority of fungi 16 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:03,640 Speaker 1: are hanging out and breaking down organic matter, not killing anything. 17 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:09,199 Speaker 1: Fungi are actually in their own taxonomic kingdom, meaning they've 18 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:12,240 Speaker 1: got something going on that's very different from every other 19 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:16,520 Speaker 1: type of organism on Earth. The immediately obvious thing that 20 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:19,479 Speaker 1: sets fungi apart from everyone else is that they reproduce 21 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:23,800 Speaker 1: exclusively via spores, which are little packets of DNA that 22 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:26,640 Speaker 1: float on the air or pitcheride some other way, and 23 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:29,920 Speaker 1: then nestle into the soil or an old sandwich or 24 00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:33,360 Speaker 1: whatever and set up shop, creating a new fungal body. 25 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:38,560 Speaker 1: Although they are extremely diverse, all fungi have filament like 26 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:43,080 Speaker 1: growth structures called hiphi. One filament is a hypha. A 27 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:45,319 Speaker 1: few of them are high fie, and when there's a 28 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:49,080 Speaker 1: big mass of high fie we refer to it as mycillium. 29 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:53,160 Speaker 1: All fungi are eukaryotes. This means their cells are more 30 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 1: similar to those of plants and animals than to bacteria 31 00:01:56,600 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: and archaa, which are prokaryotes. Fungi cells have membrane bound 32 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:08,200 Speaker 1: organelles and nucleus where their DNA is stored. But to 33 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 1: borrow a phrase from some of my coworkers, here's where 34 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:15,560 Speaker 1: it gets crazy. Their hyphie grows similar to the way 35 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:18,800 Speaker 1: that plants do, with new cells propagating out from the 36 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:23,519 Speaker 1: developed ones, each with its own cell wall. However, those 37 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:27,800 Speaker 1: cell walls contain tough, bendable kitan like animal cells do. 38 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:31,040 Speaker 1: Kitan is also the main ingredient in the scales of 39 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:36,519 Speaker 1: fish and the exoskeletons of arthropods. Fungi also breathe oxygen 40 00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 1: and release carbon dioxide like animals. Like plants, fungi can't 41 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:46,000 Speaker 1: move around, but unlike plants, they can't photosynthesize sunlight and 42 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:50,560 Speaker 1: water into energy. Instead, like animals, they eat by excreting 43 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:54,240 Speaker 1: digestive enzymes and absorbing nutrients from the compounds that those 44 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:58,080 Speaker 1: enzymes break down. That we do this internally in our stomachs, 45 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:02,400 Speaker 1: but not every animal does. However, because fungi can't move 46 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:06,160 Speaker 1: around to catch prey, they found a decent workaround eating 47 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:11,400 Speaker 1: things that hold very still, like dead still often literally. 48 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:15,760 Speaker 1: Depending on the type of fungus, they might eat fallen 49 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:19,120 Speaker 1: trees or the outer dead layers of an animal's skin. 50 00:03:19,919 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 1: You name it, there's probably a fungus out there that 51 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:25,679 Speaker 1: makes an enzyme that can break it down. Right now, 52 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:28,880 Speaker 1: billions of beneficial fungi can be found outside your window 53 00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:33,560 Speaker 1: in the soil, decomposing organic matter. Brewer said, of which 54 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 1: enzymes the specific fungus has determines what it can eat, 55 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:40,320 Speaker 1: not all fungi come with the same enzymes. The ones 56 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:42,760 Speaker 1: that can break down cellulose are the ones that grow 57 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:45,640 Speaker 1: on plants or plant matter. The ones that break down 58 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:51,520 Speaker 1: keratin grow well on skin or pear or puves. It's 59 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:54,160 Speaker 1: a living for them, and it's also great for us, 60 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:57,080 Speaker 1: as what they're doing is of utmost importance to the 61 00:03:57,080 --> 00:04:01,400 Speaker 1: health of the planet's ecosystem. Not only are they responsible 62 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: for turning organic matter that is dead plants and animal 63 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:07,920 Speaker 1: tissue into soil again, but the vast majority of the 64 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 1: world's plant families have some sort of symbiotic relationship with fungi, 65 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 1: in which the fungi pass water and nutrients into the 66 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 1: roots of the plants, and the plants make sugars for 67 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:23,960 Speaker 1: the fungi to eat. Because of their eating style, fungi 68 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:28,120 Speaker 1: are the great decomposers, regardless of whether they're a mushroom 69 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:31,360 Speaker 1: on the ground, a bracket on a tree, a puffball, 70 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:34,039 Speaker 1: a plant pathogen, or a film of mold on the 71 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:36,240 Speaker 1: wall of that forgotten tub of yogurt in the back 72 00:04:36,279 --> 00:04:39,960 Speaker 1: of your refrigerator. There are several different pyla of fungi, 73 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:42,400 Speaker 1: but most of the ones we're familiar with fit into 74 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:46,400 Speaker 1: one of two of them, Basidio my Kota and Asco Mykota. 75 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: The phylum that houses most of the fungi we think 76 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:53,839 Speaker 1: of as mushrooms is the Basidia my Kota. They're in 77 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:56,760 Speaker 1: the grocery store and making fairy rings in your yard, 78 00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:00,960 Speaker 1: cute little shelves on trees, and sometimes cause a plant diseases. 79 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:04,560 Speaker 1: Most of these have fruiting bodies that spring up from 80 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:08,360 Speaker 1: the mycilium formation rooted inside a dead log, for example, 81 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:11,600 Speaker 1: or under the soil. What we think of as the 82 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:15,520 Speaker 1: mushroom is just the reproductive structure that the mycillium sends 83 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:19,760 Speaker 1: up to release spores. Once this spoor lands, the high 84 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:22,599 Speaker 1: fee start growing out in all directions, which is why 85 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:26,160 Speaker 1: mushrooms often grow in a ring formation like fairy rings. 86 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:30,640 Speaker 1: The other group of fungi you would likely recognize is 87 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:34,720 Speaker 1: the Aska mycota. Most molds, for instance, are in this phylum. 88 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:38,039 Speaker 1: They grow in circles like all fungi, so if you 89 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:40,720 Speaker 1: leave your coffee out for a few days, you'll notice 90 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:44,880 Speaker 1: the mold grows radially out from a single point. Yeasts, 91 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:48,400 Speaker 1: moral mushrooms, truffles, and cut fungi are in this group, 92 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:51,680 Speaker 1: though most don't produce a large fruiting body like some 93 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:58,640 Speaker 1: of those. After that, fungi become less immediately recognizable. Brewer said, 94 00:05:59,080 --> 00:06:02,320 Speaker 1: they start getting wee. There are lots of animal parasites 95 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:05,080 Speaker 1: out there, like aquatic fung guy that are flagellated so 96 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:08,359 Speaker 1: they can move around in water, which includes the cretid 97 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:11,400 Speaker 1: fung guy that are killing off all of the planet's frogs. 98 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:14,359 Speaker 1: A new phyla are being figured out all the time, 99 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:25,680 Speaker 1: so that's exciting. We would say it's exciting. Indeed. Today's 100 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:28,400 Speaker 1: episode is based on the article the Fungi among Guy 101 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:31,520 Speaker 1: are the Great Decomposers on how stuffworks dot Com, written 102 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:34,560 Speaker 1: by Jesslin Shields. Brain Stuff is a production of iHeartRadio 103 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:37,080 Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com and is produced 104 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:40,039 Speaker 1: by Tyler Klang and Ramsey youwn a four more podcast. 105 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:43,280 Speaker 1: It's from my heart Radio. Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 106 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:45,239 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.