Repository logo
  • Log In
    Log in via Symplectic to deposit your publication(s).
Repository logo
  • About
  • Communities & Collections
  • Advanced Search
  • Statistics
  • Log In
    Log in via Symplectic to deposit your publication(s).
  1. Home
  2. Faculty of Engineering
  3. Bioengineering
  4. Bioengineering
  5. Fungal drops: a novel approach for macro- and microscopic analyses of fungal mycelial growth
 
  • Details
Fungal drops: a novel approach for macro- and microscopic analyses of fungal mycelial growth
File(s)
uqad042.pdf (1.98 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Buffi, Matteo
Cailleau, Guillaume
Kuhn, Thierry
Li Richter, Xiang-Yi
Stanley, Claire E
more
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
This study presents an inexpensive approach for the macro- and microscopic observation of fungal mycelial growth. The ‘fungal drops’ method allows to investigate the development of a mycelial network in filamentous microorganisms at the colony and hyphal scales. A heterogeneous environment is created by depositing 15–20 µl drops on a hydrophobic surface at a fixed distance. This system is akin to a two-dimensional (2D) soil-like structure in which aqueous-pockets are intermixed with air-filled pores. The fungus (spores or mycelia) is inoculated into one of the drops, from which hyphal growth and exploration take place. Hyphal structures are assessed at different scales using stereoscopic and microscopic imaging. The former allows to evaluate the local response of regions within the colony (modular behaviour), while the latter can be used for fractal dimension analyses to describe the hyphal network architecture. The method was tested with several species to underpin the transferability to multiple species. In addition, two sets of experiments were carried out to demonstrate its use in fungal biology. First, mycelial reorganization of Fusarium oxysporum was assessed as a response to patches containing different nutrient concentrations. Second, the effect of interactions with the soil bacterium Pseudomonas putida on habitat colonization by the same fungus was assessed. This method appeared as fast and accessible, allowed for a high level of replication, and complements more complex experimental platforms. Coupled with image analysis, the fungal drops method provides new insights into the study of fungal modularity both macroscopically and at a single-hypha level.
Date Issued
2023
Date Acceptance
2023-10-17
Citation
microLife, 2023, 4
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/112223
URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/femsml/uqad042
DOI
https://www.dx.doi.org/10.1093/femsml/uqad042
ISSN
2633-6693
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Journal / Book Title
microLife
Volume
4
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of FEMS.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Attribution 4.0 International
Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/femsml/uqad042
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
uqad042
Date Publish Online
2023-10-18
About
Spiral Depositing with Spiral Publishing with Spiral Symplectic
Contact us
Open access team Report an issue
Other Services
Scholarly Communications Library Services
logo

Imperial College London

South Kensington Campus

London SW7 2AZ, UK

tel: +44 (0)20 7589 5111

Accessibility Modern slavery statement Cookie Policy

Built with DSpace-CRIS software - Extension maintained and optimized by 4Science

  • Cookie settings
  • Privacy policy
  • End User Agreement
  • Send Feedback