Sporulation in fungi, with special reference to the hymenomycetes

Taggart, James (1961) Sporulation in fungi, with special reference to the hymenomycetes. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

In Part I the significance of the electrostatic charge on basidicospores is discussed. Measurements were made which confirmed the work of previous authors, who shewed that in the spore population derived from a single fruit body there tended to be an unequal number of positively and negatively charge spores. Estimation of the charge on the mean spore of populations of the dry rot fungus were made by allowing spores to fall through a horizontal electric filed of known strength, measuring the horizontal displacement undergone by the spores, and then making subsequent estimations of spore mass. For this a value of (1.35 +/- 0.12) x 10-8 e.s.u. was obtained. Charges of this order are likely to be acquired as a result of simple physical separation of the spore from the sterigma. It is also concluded that such charges are too mall to have any significant influence on the liberation of spores from species with narrow pores. In part II the influence of other forces on the liberation of spores from narrow pores in considered. Fruit bodies were displaced from their normal orientation, and the decrease in spore liberation was recorded. It was found that the decrease in liberation was that which was to be expected, if the spore trajectory were determined by the initial violent discharge and the gravitational attraction. Thus it is concluded that there were no extra-gravitational force involved in spore liberation, other than the initial violent horizontal projection of the spore from the hymenium lining the pore wall. In Part III discusses previous work, which reported the presence of rhythmical spore patterns on the periphery of glass discs rotated slowly beneath fruit bodies of Trasetes gibbosa. It is shown that these deposition patterns are determined by the operation of the heater of the incubator in which the experiments were carried out. However, other rhythmical shorter period (15 minute) spore disposition patterns have been found, which are not related to heater cycling or to other known variations in the environment. These patterns unrelated to heater cycling have not been consistently present. Some experiments to investigate these patterns have been carried out, and suggestions are made for further work.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Adviser: S A Hutchinson
• Keywords: Microbiology
• Date of Award: 1961
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:1961-73855
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 14 Jun 2019 08:56
• Last Modified: 14 Jun 2019 08:56
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/73855