WEBVTT - Why Are Fungi Such Great Decomposers?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogelbaum Here. Unless you're a mushroom lover, a gardener,

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<v Speaker 1>or someone especially prone to skin infections, fungi might not

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<v Speaker 1>hold much interest for you. After all, fungi generally keep

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<v Speaker 1>themselves hidden, and when they do show up, it's often unwelcome.

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<v Speaker 1>You end up with a discolored and misshapen toenail, or

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<v Speaker 1>the shrub in your yard has brown spots all over

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<v Speaker 1>its leaves, or there's a layer of slime on your leftovers.

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<v Speaker 1>For the article this episode is based on, it has

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff Work. Spoke with Maren Brewer, Associate Professor of mycology

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<v Speaker 1>that's the study of fungi in the Department of Plant

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<v Speaker 1>Pathology at the University of Georgia. She said, Unfortunately, a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of what the general public knows about fungi is bad.

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<v Speaker 1>We focus on the ones that are causing plant or

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<v Speaker 1>human diseases, but in general, the vast majority of fungi

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<v Speaker 1>are hanging out and breaking down organic matter, not killing anything.

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<v Speaker 1>Fungi are actually in their own taxonomic kingdom, meaning they've

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<v Speaker 1>got something going on that's very different from every other

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<v Speaker 1>type of organism on Earth. The immediately obvious thing that

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<v Speaker 1>sets fungi apart from everyone else is that they reproduce

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<v Speaker 1>exclusively via spores, which are little packets of DNA that

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<v Speaker 1>float on the air or pitcheride some other way, and

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<v Speaker 1>then nestle into the soil or an old sandwich or

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<v Speaker 1>whatever and set up shop, creating a new fungal body.

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<v Speaker 1>Although they are extremely diverse, all fungi have filament like

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<v Speaker 1>growth structures called hiphi. One filament is a hypha. A

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<v Speaker 1>few of them are high fie, and when there's a

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<v Speaker 1>big mass of high fie we refer to it as mycillium.

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<v Speaker 1>All fungi are eukaryotes. This means their cells are more

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<v Speaker 1>similar to those of plants and animals than to bacteria

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<v Speaker 1>and archaa, which are prokaryotes. Fungi cells have membrane bound

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<v Speaker 1>organelles and nucleus where their DNA is stored. But to

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<v Speaker 1>borrow a phrase from some of my coworkers, here's where

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<v Speaker 1>it gets crazy. Their hyphie grows similar to the way

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<v Speaker 1>that plants do, with new cells propagating out from the

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<v Speaker 1>developed ones, each with its own cell wall. However, those

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<v Speaker 1>cell walls contain tough, bendable kitan like animal cells do.

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<v Speaker 1>Kitan is also the main ingredient in the scales of

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<v Speaker 1>fish and the exoskeletons of arthropods. Fungi also breathe oxygen

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<v Speaker 1>and release carbon dioxide like animals. Like plants, fungi can't

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<v Speaker 1>move around, but unlike plants, they can't photosynthesize sunlight and

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<v Speaker 1>water into energy. Instead, like animals, they eat by excreting

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<v Speaker 1>digestive enzymes and absorbing nutrients from the compounds that those

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<v Speaker 1>enzymes break down. That we do this internally in our stomachs,

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<v Speaker 1>but not every animal does. However, because fungi can't move

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<v Speaker 1>around to catch prey, they found a decent workaround eating

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<v Speaker 1>things that hold very still, like dead still often literally.

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<v Speaker 1>Depending on the type of fungus, they might eat fallen

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<v Speaker 1>trees or the outer dead layers of an animal's skin.

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<v Speaker 1>You name it, there's probably a fungus out there that

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<v Speaker 1>makes an enzyme that can break it down. Right now,

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<v Speaker 1>billions of beneficial fungi can be found outside your window

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<v Speaker 1>in the soil, decomposing organic matter. Brewer said, of which

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<v Speaker 1>enzymes the specific fungus has determines what it can eat,

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<v Speaker 1>not all fungi come with the same enzymes. The ones

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<v Speaker 1>that can break down cellulose are the ones that grow

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<v Speaker 1>on plants or plant matter. The ones that break down

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<v Speaker 1>keratin grow well on skin or pear or puves. It's

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<v Speaker 1>a living for them, and it's also great for us,

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<v Speaker 1>as what they're doing is of utmost importance to the

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<v Speaker 1>health of the planet's ecosystem. Not only are they responsible

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<v Speaker 1>for turning organic matter that is dead plants and animal

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<v Speaker 1>tissue into soil again, but the vast majority of the

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<v Speaker 1>world's plant families have some sort of symbiotic relationship with fungi,

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<v Speaker 1>in which the fungi pass water and nutrients into the

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<v Speaker 1>roots of the plants, and the plants make sugars for

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<v Speaker 1>the fungi to eat. Because of their eating style, fungi

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<v Speaker 1>are the great decomposers, regardless of whether they're a mushroom

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<v Speaker 1>on the ground, a bracket on a tree, a puffball,

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<v Speaker 1>a plant pathogen, or a film of mold on the

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<v Speaker 1>wall of that forgotten tub of yogurt in the back

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<v Speaker 1>of your refrigerator. There are several different pyla of fungi,

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<v Speaker 1>but most of the ones we're familiar with fit into

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<v Speaker 1>one of two of them, Basidio my Kota and Asco Mykota.

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<v Speaker 1>The phylum that houses most of the fungi we think

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<v Speaker 1>of as mushrooms is the Basidia my Kota. They're in

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<v Speaker 1>the grocery store and making fairy rings in your yard,

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<v Speaker 1>cute little shelves on trees, and sometimes cause a plant diseases.

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<v Speaker 1>Most of these have fruiting bodies that spring up from

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<v Speaker 1>the mycilium formation rooted inside a dead log, for example,

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<v Speaker 1>or under the soil. What we think of as the

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<v Speaker 1>mushroom is just the reproductive structure that the mycillium sends

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<v Speaker 1>up to release spores. Once this spoor lands, the high

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<v Speaker 1>fee start growing out in all directions, which is why

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<v Speaker 1>mushrooms often grow in a ring formation like fairy rings.

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<v Speaker 1>The other group of fungi you would likely recognize is

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<v Speaker 1>the Aska mycota. Most molds, for instance, are in this phylum.

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<v Speaker 1>They grow in circles like all fungi, so if you

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<v Speaker 1>leave your coffee out for a few days, you'll notice

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<v Speaker 1>the mold grows radially out from a single point. Yeasts,

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<v Speaker 1>moral mushrooms, truffles, and cut fungi are in this group,

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<v Speaker 1>though most don't produce a large fruiting body like some

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<v Speaker 1>of those. After that, fungi become less immediately recognizable. Brewer said,

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<v Speaker 1>they start getting wee. There are lots of animal parasites

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<v Speaker 1>out there, like aquatic fung guy that are flagellated so

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<v Speaker 1>they can move around in water, which includes the cretid

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<v Speaker 1>fung guy that are killing off all of the planet's frogs.

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<v Speaker 1>A new phyla are being figured out all the time,

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<v Speaker 1>so that's exciting. We would say it's exciting. Indeed. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>episode is based on the article the Fungi among Guy

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<v Speaker 1>are the Great Decomposers on how stuffworks dot Com, written

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<v Speaker 1>by Jesslin Shields. Brain Stuff is a production of iHeartRadio

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<v Speaker 1>in partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com and is produced

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<v Speaker 1>by Tyler Klang and Ramsey youwn a four more podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>It's from my heart Radio. Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

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