Lecture 01: Introduction

Introduction to Botany 135: Magical Mushrooms and Mystical Molds

What will we be studying in this course?

The title of the course is somewhat misleading and does not tell you everything that we will be studying. That is, we will not only be learning about magical mushrooms, although there will be several lectures on this topic. Essentially, this course will cover fungi and their usage by people, their important role in nature and the harm/damage that they cause to people. As such this will be a multidisciplinary course. If I have to put a label on the course, I would say that it would be in part ethnomycology, the historical uses and sociological impact that fungi have had. It would also be in part economic mycology, the economic importance of fungi in medicine, industry, agriculture, and any other economic impact that fungi may have. There is probably a great deal of overlap in the two labels that I have just given, but both will probably cover all of the topics that we will cover this semester. Some examples of the topics will include human pathogens, plant pathogens, food spoilage and wood rot. While I may have given an explanation on the topics that will be covered, I have not defined what a fungus (pl.: fungi or funguses) is and will not do so at this time. Instead lets have a discussion on what are characteristics that you can attribute to organisms that are classified as fungi:

Some Familiar Attributes of Fungi

1. Pathogens: Cause diseases in both plants and animals.

2. Saprotrophs: Term used for organisms that obtain their nourishment from non-living organic material. For example, dead plants and animals. Most saprotrophs may also be referred to as recyclers because they digest and eat remnants of dead plants and animals and their waste products and break them down into simple inorganic molecules. Why is this important?

3. Mutualistic Symbionts: In simple terms the partnership of usually two organisms such that both will benefit from the relationship. A familiar one that you may know is a lichen, the partnership between an alga and a fungus.

4. They cause Wood Rot: This attribute actually fits under the category of saprotrophic fungi because what wood rot fungi do is break down wood into simple inorganic molecules. Why do we often give these types of fungi this special category and not simply call them saprotrophs?

5. They are parts of recipes for making food products: This is one of the lesser known attributes. They are important in making food products such as tempe (anybody know what this is?), tofu, some cheeses, and more.

6. They are parts of recipes for making beverages: The most well-known are of course beers and wines. A lesser known example is kombucha.

7. Some fungi are the actual food product: The most familiar being those species we commonly call "mushrooms." Others include Torula yeast and Quorn™ (anybody know what this is?).

I grew up in San Francisco and lived there for the first 25 years of my life. I was educated in the public school system and graduated from High School in Spring of 1967. I then went to San Francisco State College in Fall 1967, and received my B.A. in Biology, with a concentration in Botany, and was specifically became interested in fungi after taking an introductory mycology course. Mycology is the part of biology that studies fungi. However, a decision on a major did not happen immediately. I thought about a number of majors before deciding on biology. During my first two years, I took courses in astronomy, chemistry and physics, and in the life science I thought about marine biology, entomology, zoology, but initially not botany. However, it turned out that general botany was the best of the "101" courses that I had taken. Despite taking all the extra classes, I was still able to graduate in four and a half years. You may wonder why I settled on the sciences rather than majoring in other fields such as English, art, a foreign language, etc. The reason is one that some of you may laugh at. I wanted to become a scientist while in high school because of the Star Trek series! Although you may think it amusing, there are actually many men and women, of my generation, that were inspired by the series and became scientist for that reason.

I knew students that took far longer to graduate that me because it took longer for them to decide on a major. The reason that they could do that has to do with the cost of a college/university education, as well as cost of living as a whole, in the 1960s. For example in 1967, the year I graduated from high school, you could expect to see the following cost of living expenses:

After graduating with my B.A., I was accepted into the graduate program at San Francisco State and received my M.A. in Biology. By this time, the college was elevated to university status and was renamed San Francisco State University. I then left San Francisco and moved north, just south of the Sacramento area in California, to a small agricultural community in the city of Davis, where I eventually completed my PhD at the University of California, at Davis, in Botany, specializing in mycology. I was then fortunate enough to immediately receive a job offer from the University of Hawai‘i, at Mānoa, on the condition that I complete my PhD before the start of the fall 1983 semester, which I was able to do.

I wanted to give you the above information so that you will known at what time in this country's history that I grew up. Where and when a person comes of age will often give you an idea as to where they are coming from. Thus, when I go over various historical events that have to do with fungi that occurred during my life time you might better understand why I have certain attitudes about certain events. I will try to limit them to objective story telling and allow you to form your own opinion on the events that have occurred. Some of these topics will include "magic mushrooms" LSD, the origin of "Acid" Rock, etc. There will also be historical events that have been, in most cases, influenced by fungi that occurred long before my time. I am qualifying this because some events we will cover are less supported by science.

Let me give you an example that has nothing to do with fungi, but does reflect how times have changed since I was your age. Changes that occur can have a significant impact on society and how we view even recent historical events is through the "lens of modern eyes." Another words, we tend to make judgments on events of the past, based on the values of today. The example that I want to give you is about a person that I did not meet until I moved to Hawai‘i, but was well known to me because she was a world renown phycologist (a person that studies algae). Her name was Dr. Isabella "Izzie" Abbott (Fig. 1) and she was married to Dr. Donald Abbott (Fig. 2), also a world renown scientist, but in marine invertebrate zoology. When I arrived in Hawaii, I didn't know anybody here, but Izzie invited me to dinner and other social events and introduced me to her friends and family. It was at this time that I learned a great deal more about her personal life.

Izzie and Don met while they were taking Botany 101 (General Botany) here at the University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa. After they moved to the mainland, they both received their Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, in 1950. Donald Abbott would receive a job offer at Stanford's Hokins Marine Station that same year. However, it took longer for Izzie to get her career on track. She initially split her time raising her daughter Annie, and studying the marine algae of the California Coast. It would not be until 1960 that she would start teaching summer classes, at Hopkins. In 1969, she was the third author of Marine Algae of the Monterey Peninsula. The book would later be expanded in 1976 to include all the marine algae of California and by this time, Izzie became the lead author. Her hard word did not go unnoticed at Standford. In 1972, she was promoted all the way to full professor, something that was unheard of then, as it is today. Why did it take so long for Stanford to finally give Izzie the respect and the rank that she obviously earned and deserved? In the 1950s and for most of the 60s, there were many jobs that were not available to women and being a professor was one of those jobs at many universities. Today, most people reading about this story would probably say that society at that time was sexist, and they were, according to today's sense of right and wrong. However, the people living at that time were not necessarily bad people. They lived according to the values of that time, and part of that was that women did not work and have careers. They stayed home, raised the children, cooked and clean. It was only slowly, over time, that this idea gradually changed.

How Do Fungi Impact Our Lives? (A Summary of Most of the Topics Covered This Semester)

Different types of fungi have been referred to with different names, such as molds, mildews, mushrooms, toadstools, rusts, smuts, yeast etc. They impact our lives everyday and have played a role in numerous, important, historical events. However, in general, we have little knowledge about fungi. Lets find out how much you know about fungi:

1. 1. Most mushrooms are poisonous and you can become ill or die from eating or even touching them. True or False

   2. There are numerous species of fungi that specifically cause human diseases. True or False

   3. Toadstool differs from mushrooms in that they are poisonous. True or False?

   4. One plant pathogen, the late blight of potato, caused a famine that was responsible for the death of a million people in Ireland. True or False

   5. During the 13 years that Mir, the Russian space station that was in orbit around Earth, various types of mutant fungi were continuously damaging the equipment aboard the space station and eventually caused the space station to be abandoned. True or False

   6. There are over 200 different species of fungi that can grow on your feet. True or False

   7. Without fungi, life on Earth would come to an end. True or False

   8. Fungal diseases on the wheat crop was, in part responsible for the fall of the Roman Empire. True or False

   9. Our first antibiotic, penicillin, was isolated from a fungus. True or False

   10. A fungus known as a truffle can cost as much as $150,000/lb. True or False

The answers will be given, in detail, further down on the page because I want you to try to answer these questions based on what you already know. Meanwhile, lets look at how fungi are treated in fiction.

How much of these episodes of two television series that concern fungi are true?

• In the Grimm series, in season 3, episode 3, called "A Dish Best Served Cold", Blutbaden Wesens stomachs are becoming swollen and they climb up trees where their stomach explodes. Rosalee looks up in one of her many herbal books and determines that it is being caused by a mushroom called the Black Despair Mushroom that is similar to a tropical species called Ophiocordyceps unilateralis that causes Carpenter Ants to react similarly. Is there really such a fungus.

• In the X-File series, in season 6, Episode 21, "Field Trip", Agents Mulder and Scully investigates the death of a couple that despite being dead for only 3 days, only their skeletons remains from their bodies (Fig. 5). It is later discovered that a fungus had captured them and held them underground where it was eating the fleshy tissue of the bodies by excreting a digestive acid. The fungus is preventing its victims from escaping by exposing them to a hallucinogen that makes them believe that their life is continuing normally. Scully discovers the yellow digestive acid and that it originates from a mushroom that is eating the bodies (Fig. 6). She also later says that the filamentous growth, the mycelium, covers more than 10 acres of land in the forest.

We will now go over, in detail, some of the varied statements above that were made concerning fungi to see what you know. It should be obvious, from some of the above statements, that fungi are not all terrible, harmful organisms that must be eliminated. There are many fungi that are beneficial. Penicillin, mentioned in number nine being the most obvious example.

Penicillin was the first antibiotic discovered. Alexander Fleming, a British bacteriologist, published his discovery of penicillin in 1928. While examining bacterial cultures that he had recently discarded, he noticed that one of his cultures had become contaminated with a fungus. It was a common fungus that had started from spores that had blown into his culture and somehow succeeded in killing the bacteria. This inadvertent contamination led to one of the most significant discoveries of the 20th. Century and led to a new era in the treatment of infectious bacterial diseases. This also led to the search and discovery of numerous other antibiotics. Relatively few people in the world have not benefited from the discovery of penicillin.

There are a number of species of mushrooms that contain toxins that may be fatal if consumed. However, compared to the number of species of known mushrooms, the number of poisonous mushrooms that can cause you to become ill are relatively few and fewer yet are species that contain toxins that are fatal if consumed. However, this does not mean that the remaining mushrooms are going to be great to eat. The number of species that are good to eat is also not large compared to the total number of known species. What this means is that a lot of mushrooms are not that good to eat and may even taste terrible, but are not poisonous. Also, note that the poisonous mushrooms must be consumed in order to harm you. Touching, licking and even chewing a piece of a poisonous mushroom in your mouth is safe. Although I would not advise you to put a poisonous mushroom in your mouth. You may inadvertently swallow it! There are some fungal toxins that are harmful in a different way by effecting the central nervous system. The most controversial of these toxins are psychoactive. The most famous being LSD-25 and psilocybin. In today's society, these drugs are taken for recreational purposes. However, psilocybin, which is often ingested by consuming mushrooms of the genus Psilocybe, and related mushrooms, were/are also used by Native American Indian in some of their religious ceremonies and is regarded as being sacred. The more familiar of the two drugs is probably LSD-25. After its discovery, it was originally used for the treatment of certain forms of psychological disorders. This was also true for psilocybin. However, because of their abuse as recreational drugs and the harm that came about through this type of usage, possession of these drugs is no longer legal.

You often hear the term "toadstool" used in reference to species that are poisonous. However, there is no difference in the appearance of a mushroom vs a toadstool. It is just a name that has been applied to species of mushrooms that are poisonous.

The potato famine that occurred in Ireland, between 1845-52, due to a fungal pathogen of potatoes, was responsible for the deaths of about a million people. It was also responsible for another million people leaving Ireland because of the famine. However, there are numerous plant pathogens that are cause diseases on agricultural crops.

The first space station Mir was a Russian space station that orbited the Earth for 13 years. However, fungal infections by mutant fungi caused various failure in equipment important in the proper functioning of the space stations. The fungal infestation was a problem for almost the entire time that Mir was in orbit and the various fungi proved impossible to eliminate and eventually led to the decision to abandon the space station and allowed it to crash on earth. The International Space Station that is now in orbit is facing the same problem with fungi.

There are over 200 species of fungi that are human pathogens and only some of them grow on your feet. So that statement was false! Although there are fewer number of diseases of humans/animals that are caused by fungi, ones that occur are often widespread and can be contagious. Some examples include athlete's foot and other forms of ringworm. At one time or another, some of you have contracted ringworm diseases. Although not pleasant, nobody dies from these types of infections. However, some fungal diseases such as Valley Fever and Histoplasmosis may be fatal. Regardless of the type of fungal diseases that you have contracted, they are usually difficult to treat.

As difficult as it is to believe, without fungi, life would come to an end on this planet. Fungi along with bacteria are responsible for recycling all organic material. So when organisms give off waste material or if they die, the organic material from the waste and dead bodies will be broken down into simple inorganic molecules that can then be utilized by plants to make all the food that other organisms eat. Another words, plants are the producers of the world's food supply and the rest of us are the ones that consumes the food.

Fungal disease on wheat crop was partly responsible for the fall of the Roman Empire, but they only played a minor role.

Truffles are very expensive! Their market value varies as does the different species of truffles. The most expensive species is commonly called the European White Truffle that in most years can cost as much as $3,600/lb. Other species are by no mean cheap. They all usually will cost more than $1000/lb. However, in an auction, a European White Truffle that weighed 2 lbs., sold for $300,000, or $150,000/lb.

The above summaries will be covered in more details as we go over the various topics on fungi. There are also more topics that were not mentioned as well.

To end our introduction, I have a link to a short video by Paul Stamets called "Six ways that mushrooms can save the world" that nicely illustrates how fungi are able to clean up our environment. Mr. Stamets is a mycological entrepreneur that has been able to make a good living as a commercial mycologist while at the same time trying to find means by which fungi can be utilize for the benefit of people. He owns a business in Olympia, Washington called Fungi Perfecti where he sells books, some that he has written, tools for cultivating various species of mushrooms, as well as the spawn necessary to cultivate the mushrooms as well as many other products having to do with fungi. The video is on YouTube, but it can be viewed below: