Ruthless killer. Flus have been found to use chemical weapons to overcome enemies

One of the most famous examples is Ascomycota, which later learned to use their mesh structures to capture round worms. But they are not one. In focus. Technology has appeared its Telegram channel. Subscribe to not miss the latest and most embarrassing news from the world of science! Back in the 1980s, scientists noticed that the usual mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) were able to paralyze and kill a nematode, but they were needed more than 40 years to finally solve this secret.

According to the Associate Professor of the Institute of Molecular Biology at the Sinica-Ping Sui Academy, they and colleagues found that the mushrooms developed a unique strategy-they use poisonous gas in the fight against the enemy. Sui notes that he found that mushrooms are used as a ketone-3-octanon nerve gas. So they paralyze the prey and kill, and then launch their threads into the body and consume the necessary nutrients.

According to Professor of Biology at McMaster University, Jiangpin Sui, 3-octanon is very versatile and is used not only by mushrooms, but also by other plants and animals. Its hydrophobicity and low surface tension allow it to be extremely volatile. Researchers have found that fungi store 3-octanone in high concentrations, allowing it to be used as chemical weapons.

Sui used a mutation to see that without a small structure, similar to a lollipop, with the name of the toxocyst, mushrooms are simply not capable of killing a nematode. Researchers note that this part of the fungus is incredibly fragile and breaks in the slightest touch. Scientists used gas chromatography and mass spectrometry to fix the release of a chemical volatile substance, and then they were able to identify it.

The researchers then tested that 3-octanon spills on round worms at high concentrations, and noticed that it was killing a nematode, destroying their cell membranes. According to Sui, the uniqueness of the mushroom ability is not that they use chemical weapons to combat the enemy, but rather that they manage to form and store the substance in such a high local concentration.

Sui notes that the toxocyst is actually formed and grows outside the main body of the fungus, and the composition of its membrane is obviously different from the composition of typical fungal cells. Researchers cannot say for sure, but they suggest that this structure protects vulnerable mushroom cells from this dangerous compound.