A Model for Fungal Colony Growth Applied to Sclerotium rolfsii

Abstract

A model which relates branching kinetics to colony shape in filamentous fungi was used to study the growth of Sclerotium rolfsii. Model variables include the densities of hyphae and tips along the radius of the colony. Experiments designed to measure these variables revealed peaked distributions of hyphae, and tip densities which were concentrated just within the margin of the colony. The phenomena of lateral branching, hyphal autolysis, and anastomosis, which are known to occur in S . rulfsii, are incorporated into the model. Predictions generated by the model agree with experimental observations on this species.

Molecular Identification of Endophytic Fungi Isolated from Needle Leaves of Conifers in Bohyeon Mountain, Korea

“…All isolates were grouped into morphotypes based on colony shape, height, and color of the aerial hyphae, as well as the base color, growth rate, margin characteristics, surface texture, and depth of growth into the medium [11, 12]. One or two isolates of each morphotype were then selected for molecular identification.…”

A Simplified Branching Assay for Rhizoctonia solani

“…Some have considered apical dominance in hyphae (Larpent, 1966;Valla, 1984) or the effects of various inhibitors, or of autoinhibition, on hyphal morphogenesis and branching (Butler, 1984;Fevre and Rougier, 1980;Trinci and Collinge, 1973;Trinci, 1985). Branching has also been considered as one of the parameters in mathematical models of fungal growth and colony formation (Edelstein et al, 1983;Prosser and Trinci, 1979). Branching has also been considered as one of the parameters in mathematical models of fungal growth and colony formation (Edelstein et al, 1983;Prosser and Trinci, 1979).…”

“…Studies of the kinetics of colony growth (Edelstein et al, 1983;Katz et al, 1972;Morrison and Righelato, 1974;Prosser and Trinci, 1979;Trinci, 1974) address the problem of branching in fungi as an analogue for cell division. Assays of branching frequency, including HGU, ILU, intercalary compartment length, or counts of hyphal tips, are not descriptive of the entirety of branching behavior in a fungus, nor of its colony morphology.…”

“…Plunkett (1966) measured the distance between primary branches (internodes) to detect the effect of various amino acids on branching of Mucor hiemalis Wehm. The "tip density" was equated to lateral branching rate by Edelstein et al (1983). It was not clear whether tips of second-and thirdorder branches were counted.…”

Ecological Complexity and the Success of Fungal Biological Control Agents

“…However, relatively little predictive information is available about the growth and activity of fungal hyphae in soil habitats. A number of fungal growth models deal primarily with aspects of physiology and morphogenesis (e.g., [87,88]), and these may not be directly applicable to predict fungal proliferation in natural habitats; other models deal with colony pattern formation in 2D and 3D space. Knudsen & Stack [89] introduced the idea of a simulation model for hyphal growth of a fungal hyperparasite through soil and use of the model to predict the incidence of hyperparasitism of sclerotia of certain soilborne plant pathogens.…”