MYCOLab Ai Logo - gold and army green

Electrical integrity and week-long oscillation in fungal mycelia

Summary

Researchers monitored electrical signals in fungal mycelial networks over 100 days to understand how fungi coordinate their activities across space. When fungi encountered wood to decompose, they generated a clear, directional electrical signal from the wood toward the rest of the mycelium, acting like a biological command center. Most remarkably, after 60 days, the fungi developed a week-long electrical rhythm at the wood site, the longest oscillation ever recorded in fungi, which may help the fungus remember resource locations and coordinate its decomposition activities.

Background

Cord-forming basidiomycetes are saprotrophic fungi that form mycelial networks to search for nutrients and facilitate carbon cycling on forest floors. Previous studies have shown that wood decay fungi exhibit electrical signals and action potential-like responses to environmental stimuli, but the mechanisms of signal transfer across entire mycelial networks remain poorly understood.

Objective

To monitor electrical potential across a pure-cultured colony of Pholiota brunnescens over 100+ days and demonstrate the transfer of electrical signals related to wood bait colonization using causality analysis of electrical potential measurements at multiple locations within the mycelium.

Results

Colony growth correlated with increased electrical potential at focal electrodes. Causality analysis revealed significant causal relationships in baited dishes during the first 60 days, with directional flow from the bait location to other mycelial regions. After 60 days, stable causal effects disappeared coinciding with the onset of a previously unreported seven-day oscillation period in electrical potential at the bait location.

Conclusion

The mycelium of P. brunnescens exhibits significant electrical signal transfer with directionality from colonized wood bait to other mycelial regions, suggesting the baited hyphae function as a pacemaker. The week-long electrical oscillation is the longest oscillation period recorded in fungi and may reflect wood decay activity cycles or represent a memory and learning mechanism in fungal mycelial networks.
  • Published in:Scientific Reports,
  • Study Type:Experimental Study,
  • Source: 10.1038/s41598-024-66223-6, PMID: 38971913
Scroll to Top