Nutrients and Trace Elements Content of Wood Decay Fungi Isolated from Oak (Quercus ilex)

Abstract

The presence of chemical elements and the differences in their concentration in the fruiting bodies of wood decay fungi may reflect their activity either as saprobes or parasites and the intimate physiological relation with the substrate from which they extract their nutrients. In order to test this hypothesis, we carried out a systematic sampling of eight species of wood decay fungi on oak (Quercus ilex). The data show that the concentration of some elements exhibits a very wide range of values for the species tested, which could mean that the relative content of some elements may provide clues about the nature of the substrate and, moreover, about the nutritional physiology. The comparison between the foliar analysis (FA) and the elemental content of fungi may shed light on the specific physiological behaviour of the species. Potassium is an element accumulated in fungal biomass in higher quantities than in the FA. By contrast, calcium appears in foliar analysis in much higher quantities than in fungal fruiting bodies' biomass. Concerning this element, we have also found profound differences between the two species phylogenetic groups and lifestyle. Of all elements measured, we believe that the relative accumulation of K and Ca may be related to the close connection between fungi and the substrate on which they live and may also explain their physiological role as saprobes or parasites. When the lifestyle and the systematic position of the different species sampled were compared, differences also emerged in the content of Na and Ca.

Lifestyle Influence on the Content of Copper, Zinc and Rubidium in Wild Mushrooms

“…Particularly notable are the results of Borovička et al [23], who give concentrations for some heavy metals several orders of magnitude lower than those found in our analysis [24,25]. It must be noticed that, although the spectrometer was thoroughly calibrated, it seems that the methodology of X-ray fluorescence may not be adequate when the concentrations are close to the low detection limit (e.g., heavy metals).…”

How to Make a Beetle Out of Wood: Multi-Elemental Stoichiometry of Wood Decay, Xylophagy and Fungivory

“…The measured ergosterol contents cannot be simply recalculated into fungal biomass because the conversion factors are strongly dependent on the fungal species [37] . However, the contents of N, P. K and Cu in the mycelium of wood decaying fungi [38] , [39] and in the fruiting bodies of mushrooms [38] , [40] are two to three orders of magnitude higher than in undecayed wood (this study), while the contents of the other elements studied here differ less than one order of magnitude.…”

Sadržaj teških metala i bioakumulacijski potencijal nekih samoniklih jestivih gljiva

“…The lowest concentration of zinc determined in the species A. mellea can be explained by lifestyle of mushrooms, because it is a lignocellulous species that lives on wood without contact with mineral particles of soil. This is in accordance with studies of Campos (2011), which have confirmed the lowest content of zinc in A.mellea. The highest mean value in T. terreum, can be explained that zinc adapted to ectomycorrizal fungi can be used as biological barriers to the accumulation of metals in symbiotic trees Adriansen et al (2006), thereby increasing the concentration of zinc in the fruit bodies of mushrooms.…”