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Laboratory of Biotechnology, Research Center for Biological Sciences, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Apartado postal 129, Tlaxcala, Tlax., CP 90000, México
David Moore
Faculty of Life Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
Gerardo Díaz-Godínez
Laboratory of Biotechnology, Research Center for Biological Sciences, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Apartado postal 129, Tlaxcala, Tlax., CP 90000, México
| ABSTRACT |
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From observations made by light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, environmental-scanning and cryoscanning electron microscopy we conclude that the expansion of the young fruit body of Pleurotus pulmonarius involves considerable vacuolation of hyphae but no marked inflation of cell dimensions. There is evidence for an extensive extracellular matrix (ECM), the components of which must be under the control of the hyphae which the ECM surrounds. However the ECM in these fruit bodies is a dilute material. It is easily lost during specimen preparation and is evident only when certain techniques are used to preserve the fluid surface of the hyphae. Observations of the hyphal and fruit body structures with a range of conventional microscopic techniques are crucial to complement the information obtained through physiological and molecular studies for understanding the cellular changes that occur during mushroom development.
Key words: basidiomycetes, electron microscopy techniques, extracellular matrix, hyphal ultrastructure
| INTRODUCTION |
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Another way in which fungal morphogenesis differs from that in other organisms is that no lateral contacts have been found between fungal hyphae analogous to the plasmodesmata, gap junctions and cell processes, which interconnect neighboring cells in plant and animal tissues. Their absence suggests that morphogens used to regulate development in fungi will be communicated through the extracellular environment (Moore 1998
) and implies that the environment immediately surrounding the hypha could be of prime importance in the regulation of fungal morphogenesis.
Over the years several studies have been published on a range of aspects of the developmental biology of different members of the Agaricales (using the classification scheme of Kirk et al [2001]
). These include Agaricus in the Agaricaceae (Flegg et al 1985
, Umar and van Griensven 1997a
, b
, c
), Coprinopsis (now placed in the Psathyrellaceae) but as Coprinus in the Coprinaceae (Chiu and Moore 1993
, Greening and Moore 1996
, Greening et al 1993
, 1997
, Kher et al 1992
, Moore 1984
, Moore et al 1979
), Volvariella in the Pluteaceae (Chiu 1993
, Chiu and Moore 1990
, 1993
, 1999
, Chiu et al 1989
, 1995
), Schizophyllum in the Schizophyllaceae (Schuren et al 1993
, Wessels 1992
, 1993
) and Flammulina and Lentinula in the Marasmiaceae (Chiu et al 1996
, 1999
, Tan and Moore 1994
, 1995
, Williams et al 1985
).
Unfortunately, with the expansion of interest in molecular analyses, studies of structure and physiology have become unfashionable. However data mining of fungal genomes (which is fashionable) has demonstrated that genomes of filamentous fungi lack sequences showing homology to gene sequences that are considered to be crucial to regulation of development of animals and plants (Moore et al 2005
, Moore and Me
kauskas 2006
). This observation carries the implication that the unique cell biology of filamentous fungi has caused control of multicellular development in fungi to evolve in a radically different fashion from that in animals and plants. If what is known about animals and plants sheds little or no light on development in fungi there remains therefore a dire need for basic studies of structure and physiology of fungal fruit bodies, if only to broaden the foundation of information on which theories of fungal morphogenesis can be based.
What we do know already hints at some of the complexity of the relationships that exist. Expansion of the fruit body cap in Lentinula edodes and Pleurotus pulmonarius occurs by hyphal multiplication for example whereas the same process in Agaricus bisporus and Coprinopsis cinerea (published as Coprinus cinereus) occurs by hyphal inflation (Moore 1996
, 1998a
, Wessels 1993
, 1994
; this report). Both strategies require water uptake and therefore a metabolic osmoregulator, but Agaricus and Lentinula accumulate mannitol as osmoregulator (Hammond and Wood 1985
, Tan and Moore 1994
). In Coprinopsis mannitol is undetectable but urea accumulates to drive water into the cap (Moore 1984
, Moore et al 1979
); while in at least one species of Pleurotus, both mannitol and urea accumulate in the cap (Chiu and To 1993
).
Pleurotus (in the Pleurotaceae) has several cultivated species that are becoming increasingly economically important as a food source (Moore and Chiu 2001
), but the genus also has promise in bioremediation as the fungus and even its spent compost is able to degrade many organic pollutants effectively (Chiu et al 1998
).
In the research reported here different stages of the development of fruit bodies of Pleurotus pulmonarius formed on potato-extract agar were studied with light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, environmental-scanning and cryoscanning electron microscopy.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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Transmission electron microscopy.
Samples were fixed, dehydrated, embedded, sectioned and stained as previously reported (Sánchez 2000
, Sánchez and Moore 1999
). Sections were observed with either a Philips 201 or a Hitachi 600 transmission electron microscope. Micrographs were recorded by conventional photography on Kodak ESTAR 4489 film.
Light microscopy.
Embedding and sectioning of the samples were carried out with the same procedure as for transmission electron microscopy (Sánchez 2000
, Sánchez and Moore 1999
). Sections 1.5 µm thick were placed on glass slides and dried on a hot plate for 10 min before staining. The sections were stained with 1% toluidine blue (w/v) in 1% boric acid (w/v), which stains most of the cytoplasm, the cell walls and nuclei of the cells. The slides were left in the stain on a hotplate for 15 min and rinsed with distilled water and dried (Sánchez and Moore 1999
). The measurements of the cross-sectional area of the pileus and stipe zones represented in sections of the fruit body were done with a Quantimet Q570 image analysis system and a video camera (Panasonic model WV-CD20), which sent the fruit body image to the computer monitor. An image analysis program written by G.C. Paul (Birmingham University) was used. Light micrographs were recorded with either a wild MPS 51S SPOT or Nikon M-35S camera attached respectively to the Leitz or the Nikon microscope. Either TMAX100 Kodak or Technical pan Kodak B&W film was used, according to the contrast in the stained specimens.
Environmental-scanning electron microscopy. Fresh specimens were observed with a Philips Electroscan E3 environmental-scanning electron microscope. Micrographs were taken with an attached 35 mm camera and Ilford B&W Delta film.
Cryoscanning electron microscopy. Fresh fruit bodies were frozen by immersing them in liquid nitrogen slush (at 210 C). They were transferred under vacuum to a cooled microscope stage where ice was sublimed from the tissue (at 70 C), after which the samples were again cooled to 180 C and coated with gold. Samples were examined in the hydrated frozen state with a Cambridge Instruments S200 scanning electron microscope fitted with an Oxford Instruments CT1000 low temperature stage. Micrographs were made with an attached 35 mm camera and Ilford B&W Delta film.
| RESULTS |
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Extensive sheaths of ECM were observed in all stages of P. pulmonarius fruit body development. They were evident in transmission electron micrographs as slightly electron dense regions between the hyphal profiles (FIG. 10a
) and were clearly revealed surrounding live hyphae by environmental-scanning EM (FIG. 10b
). Sometimes this surface material formed a sheath over the whole surface of the young fruit body.
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| DISCUSSION |
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A much lesser role for glycogen in fruit body development of Pleurotus sajorcaju also has been demonstrated by direct measurements (Chiu and To 1993
). Whatever the exact identity of the accumulation products, the fact that the histological staining technique identifies the peripheral growth zone suggests that the zones of the P. pulmonarius fruit body primordia that were most densely stained were the most active growth zones of the primordium. They also were populated by hyphae that contained few vacuoles.
The base of 1 mm long P. pulmonarius fruit bodies had a similar hyphal arrangement to that seen in the base of younger fruit body initials, but the hyphae were more highly vacuolated even at this early stage (FIG. 7a, b
). As development proceeded and distinct stipe tissue differentiated, the extent of vacuolation increased (FIG. 8a
). Cells in the pileus also were more intensely stained (FIG. 8b
) and generally smaller than those in the stipe (Sánchez 2004
) (reflected in FIG. 8a, b
).
Vacuolation might be important in the creation of the turgor pressures required during stipe extension. Localized production of large vacuoles certainly has been associated with specific stipe bending caused by the gravitropic response (Greening and Moore 1996
, Greening et al 1993
, 1997
).
Williams et al (1985)
reported that, in 2 mm long fruit bodies of Flammulina velutipes, the tissue of the stipe consisted mainly of elongated, longitudinal hyphae arranged parallel to each other, whereas in the base the hyphal arrangement was irregular and the hyphae appeared to be highly interwoven. Similar hyphal arrangement was observed in a 1 mm fruit body long (FIG. 9a, d
). The longitudinal hypha arranged in a parallel manner (FIG. 9b
) presumably was due to the stretching tensions resulting from the increasing vacuolation. Even the most extensive sheaths of ECM seems to have little mass because material prepared for conventional cryoscanning EM preserves only a slight sprinkling of material over hyphal surfaces that we assume to be dehydrated ECM (FIG. 10a
).
The expansion of the young fruit body involves considerable vacuolation of hyphae but no marked inflation of cell dimensions. There is evidence for an extensive extracellular matrix, the components of which must be under the control of the hyphae the ECM surrounds. The ECM clearly offers an environment through which intercellular signals could be communicated and even might be composed of such signaling molecules. However the ECM in these fruit bodies is dilute. It is easily lost during specimen preparation and is evident only when certain techniques are used to preserve the fluid surface of the hyphae.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| FOOTNOTES |
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1 Corresponding author. E-mail: sanher6{at}hotmail.com
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