Fungus Fact Friday

Tagged: food

#107: The Banana and Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense 2

Fungus Fact

#107: The Banana and Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense

The banana that you know and love may soon be a thing of the past. I know, you probably think that I’m exaggerating the threat to this ubiquitous crop, but the possibility of bananas disappearing from grocery shelves forever is very real.  In fact, it nearly happened once before.  Here is a brief history of the modern banana: in the 1950’s, bananas were wiped out by a disease called Panama Disease.  To save the crop, a resistant variety was discovered.  Today, Panama Disease has evolved to attack the resistant variety, thus threatening to decimate banana production for a second time.  This time, however, there is not a fallback option.

#096: The Great Famine of Ireland and Phytophthora infestans 0

Fungus Fact / That's Not A Fungus!

#096: The Great Famine of Ireland and Phytophthora infestans

In celebration of Independence Day, I have decided to discuss a fungus-related event which significantly impacted the history of the United States (Don’t worry; I will get to the remaining mushroom toxins in the next few weeks). America is a country of immigrants, so on the day that we celebrate the founding of our country, it only seems fitting that we take a moment to remember how immigration has shaped our history.

#068: Frosty Pod Rot Disease of Cacao Trees 1

Fungus Fact

#068: Frosty Pod Rot Disease of Cacao Trees

Frosty Pod Rot, caused by the fungus Moniliophthora roreri, is one of the most significant pathogens of cacao trees (Theobroma cacao). The disease has been around a long time: it was first recognized in Ecuador in 1917 and first described in 1933.  roreri likely evolved in Columbia, where the greatest diversity of the species is located and where cultivated cacao trees grow near closely related trees.  Up until the 1950’s, Frosty Pod Rot was limited to northwestern South America.  Since then, it has spread throughout Central America and into Peru and Venezuela.  In these areas, Frosty Pod Rot is the most destructive cacao disease, resulting in the loss of about 30-40% of total production.  The disease has not yet made it to Asia or Africa, where most of the world’s chocolate is produced, but it may just be a matter of time.

#061: Ergot of Rye, Claviceps purpurea 2

Fungus Fact

#061: Ergot of Rye, Claviceps purpurea

Imagine for a moment that it is the late 17th century and you live in rural America.  Your day starts off like any other day: you wake up, have breakfast, and begin working on your farm.  However, before too long your daughter starts behaving oddly.  At first she just seems agitated, but her symptoms quickly escalate.  She convulses, hides under the table, yells unintelligibly, and complains of a prickly sensation in her arms and legs.  Terrified, you call for the town doctor.  The doctor has never seen a disease like this before and cannot find anything physically wrong with your daughter.  After a while, he comes up with the only possible cause: witchcraft.  Just then, one of your neighbors bursts in, looking for the doctor.  His daughter has been exhibiting the same symptoms!  You look at his frightened face and realize what you have to do: in order to protect...

#049: Coffee Rust [Archived] 1

Archived

#049: Coffee Rust [Archived]

Note: This is an archived post. You can find the current version of this post here. Coffee Rust (la roya in Spanish) is a disease of coffee plants that is caused by the fungus Hemileia vastatrix. If you enjoy a fine cup of coffee, then this is one fungus you should be very interested in.  The Coffee Rust is currently ravaging coffee trees in Central America, where 60% to 75% of the region’s crops are infected with the pathogen.  The result of this has been a 15% drop in Central America’s coffee output and a corresponding loss of more than 100,000 jobs over the last two years.  The high-end Arabica trees are particularly susceptible to the disease.  America’s major coffee producers have been able to find enough coffee to meet demand without a noticeable impact on price*, but smaller, specialty brewers are having a harder time.  And we haven’t seen...

#025: Production of Soy Sauce 0

Fungus Fact

#025: Production of Soy Sauce

There are two ways to make soy sauce: the traditional brewing process or the modern chemical hydrolysis process. In short, the traditional process involves the fermentation of soybeans and wheat by fungi and some bacteria.  The hydrolysis process extracts the amino acids from soy and adds other ingredients to create a liquid similar to soy sauce.

#024: Fungi in the Production of Chocolate 1

Fungus Fact

#024: Fungi in the Production of Chocolate

Along with red roses and cheesy cards, chocolate is one of the common Valentine’s Day gifts. So on this day when heart-shaped boxes of chocolates are a common sight, I thought you might like to learn a little about how chocolate gets from the cocoa beans to the cloying boxes (be thankful I didn’t decide to discuss fungal diseases you can get from roses).  You probably already know that chocolate comes from the seeds of the cacao tree, Theobroma cacao.  The first way in which fungi allow for the production of chocolate is by helping the cacao tree to grow.  In order to get nutrients required for growth, all trees participate in mutualistic relationships with fungi called mycorrhizae.  There are a number of types of mycorrhizae, but Theobroma cacao only forms endomycorrhize.  In these mycorrhize, fungi in the phylum Glomeromycota penetrate the root cells of the tree and form specialized...