A fungus called Armillaria.
When you go to the supermarket, most of the white mushrooms you see are small and exquisite, but in Blue Ridge, Oregon, the size of a "close relative" of mushrooms is beyond imagination: it covers an area of 965 hectares, equivalent to 1.665 standard football fields! This giant fungus named Armillaria ostoyae was discovered in 1998, and its appearance set a new record for the largest organism in the world. Previously, it was recognized that the largest creature in the world was the blue whale, with a body length of 33.5 meters and a weight of 200 tons. According to the estimation of growth rate, this giant mushroom should be 2400 years old, but scientists speculate that its actual age may be 8650 years old-one of the oldest creatures on earth. When a team of foresters counted the number of pathogenic fungi in eastern Oregon, they accidentally discovered this oversized "mushroom". They collected some samples, compared them with the fungi cultured in the laboratory to see if it is composed of multiple identical individuals, and analyzed its genetic characteristics with DNA fingerprinting technology to determine the size of each member that constitutes it. Armillaria australis is the direct cause of mulberry root diseases. Many pine trees in America and Canada suffer from this disease and die slowly. Generally speaking, fungi will grow along the roots, extend hyphae and secrete many digestive enzymes. Armillaria antarctica has a unique growth mode: extending mycorrhiza, connecting food sources with bacteria, and then growing rapidly outward. The combination of dominant genes and a stable environment have enabled this giant fungus to maintain its vitality for thousands of years. Canadian biochemist Miron Smith said, "Armillaria Auschwitz is really a strange fungus. Generally speaking, it can grow indefinitely with its powerful mycelium network. " Armillaria mellea got its name because they have a yellow dome and sweet bacteria. In fact, scientists first discovered that the giant fungus was1992-a fungus named Armillaria beadata covered an area of 15 hectares.
Meron Smith is studying for a doctorate at the University of Toronto. He and his colleagues found 15 hectares of fungi in a broad-leaved forest. Smith recalled: "We didn't want to find anything strange at first, just to observe different fungi and then identify different kinds of fungi through molecular biology." Later, after comparing the genes of several fungi with the latest biotechnology, Smith found that the Armillaria sphaeroides in broad-leaved forest was over 1500 years old and weighed at least 100 tons! Lacrose, a biologist at the University of Wisconsin, said, "People know that these fungi are big, but they don't know why they can grow so big. In the history of mycology, rmillaria bulbosa is definitely the largest fungus, and it may keep the record of the largest creature in the world forever. " But soon, Terry Shaw of the University of Colorado discovered a larger fungus, Armillaria Auschwitz, in southwest Wisconsin, covering an area of 600 hectares. In 2003, another American scientist published a report that he found 2384 hectares of fungi.
The appearance of these super fungi makes people start to discuss another question: what constitutes these big Macs? American scientist Volcker said: "Giant creatures are all composed of cells with the same genetic characteristics. They can communicate with each other and perform some complex functions together. " Blue whale, superfungus and 6615t European trematode all meet Volcker's definition of superorganism.
From this point of view, the mushrooms we usually eat are also large creatures: a farm can harvest dozens of tons of mushrooms every year, but these mushrooms growing in plastic greenhouses all have the same genetic characteristics!
Volcker said: "In fact, for fungi, huge volume is a very common thing. It's just that humans have never discovered this. "
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