Mushrooms being a PARASITE to another mushroom?? 🍄 Zombie Mushroom
Today I learnt something new again from @BlackForager : Mycoparasitism
While its common knowledge that mushrooms most often grow on old decaying wood/matter. I never knew mushrooms could take over other mushrooms and still be edible??
Alexis introduces Shrimp of the Woods a.k.a. Zombie Mushroom in her new short.
The two fungi here are Entoloma abortivum and Armillaria. Previously it was not known which mushroom was overtaking which until Scientists used transcriptomics to find out more about this parasitic relationship.
They found that E.abortivum is responsible for the parasitic relationship and causes the zombie-like shape, carpophoroids. They found strongly upregulated E. abortivum transcripts in the carpophoroid tissue encoded oxalate decarboxylases - enzymes that degrade oxalic acid.