A team from the University of California, Riverside studied how fungi respond to wildfire. Over five years they collected fungi from seven burn sites across California. The researchers sequenced fungal genomes and exposed some isolates to charcoal. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows how fungi that were barely detectable in soil before a fire can proliferate afterwards.
The team found several genetic strategies that help fungi use burned material. Some fungi duplicate genes to make more enzymes that digest charcoal; an example is Aspergillus, a mold found on bread. Many Basidiomycota use sexual recombination to mix genes and evolve faster. One fungus, Coniochaeta hoffmannii, appears to have acquired useful genes from bacteria in a rare cross-kingdom transfer.
Researchers also described physical survival strategies. Some fungi form sclerotia, heat-resistant structures that stay dormant underground for years. Others survive deeper in the soil and then quickly colonize nutrient-rich, competitor-free ground after a fire; Pyronema makes small orange cup-shaped mushrooms in these conditions. Understanding these genes could help clean up pollutants and restore burned landscapes.
Difficult words
- wildfire — a large, uncontrolled outdoor fire
- genome — complete genetic material of an organismgenomes
- charcoal — black carbon material made by burning wood
- proliferate — to increase in number quickly
- sclerotium — a hard structure fungi use to survive heatsclerotia
- enzyme — a protein that speeds up chemical reactionsenzymes
- colonize — to start living and growing in a place
- sexual recombination — mixing genes through sexual reproduction
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Discussion questions
- How might fungi that grow after fires help repair damaged land?
- Do you think using fungi to clean pollutants is a good idea? Why or why not?
- What would you like to learn next about how fungi survive wildfires?
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