Agaricus

Agaricus
occurrence
Agaricus is an edible fungus and is commonly known as mushroom. It is a saprophytic
fungus found growing on soil humus, decaying litter on forest floors, in the fields and lawns,
wood logs and manure piles. It grows best in moist and shady places and is commonly seen
during rainy season. It is cosmopolitan in distribution. About 17 species of Agaricus have
been reported from India.
2. Structure of Agaricus:
It can be studied in two parts:
(a) Vegetative mycelium (living inside the soil)
(b) Fruiting body or basidiocarp (present above the soil and edible in young stage)
(a) Vegetative mycelium

 The vegetative mycelium remains underground and is of two types.
 The primary mycelium formed by the germination of basidiospore, is hyaline,
septate and monokaryotic.
 Depending on the strain of the basidiospore, it may of (+) or (-) strain.
 The primary mycelium is short-lived and soon gets transformed into the secondary
mycelium. The secondary mycelium, formed by the fusion of two primary mycelia of
opposite strains, is perennial, branched and septate. It contains dolipore septa and its cells
are binucleate. The hyphae of the secondary mycelium twist together to form white
hyphal cords, called rhizomorphs.
 The dikaryotic mycelium shows centrifugal growth, i.e., hyphae grow outward from a
center in a circle. A circular colony of hyphae is thus formed in the soil. At maturity,
hyphae develop fruiting bodies at their tips in a more or less circular ring. (Fairy ring).
(b) Fruiting body or basidiocarp:
•The basidiocarp is the aerial part of Agaricus and it develops from rhizomorph.
•This part is commonly known as mushroom.
•It is differentiated into a stipe and a pileus.
•The stipe is about 6-9 cm in height and the pileus is 5-10 cm in diameter.
•There are about 300-600 gills in the under-surface of the pileus arranged in radial fashion.
3. Reproduction in Agaricus campestris

•Agaricus reproduces by vegetative, asexual and sexual means.
(a). Vegetative Reproduction: It reproduces vegetatively by its perennating mycelium.
Asexual Reproduction in Agaricus campestris
•It is not a common method of propagation in Agaricus. It takes place by chlamydospore
formation.
•The chlamydospores develop in terminal or intercalary positions on the secondary
mycelium.
•They germinate to produce dikaryotic mycelium.
•In some species oidia are also formed, but these are involved mainly in dikaryotization
rather than developing directly into new mycelia.
3. Sexual Reproduction:
The sexual reproduction is mainly somatogamous or pseudogamous. The sex organs are
completely absent and their function has been taken over by the somatic hyphae which are
heterothallic. However, a few species of Agaricus, like A. campestris and A. bisporus, are
homothallic. Sexual reproduction is completed through following steps:
(a) Plasmogamy:
It is the first step in the sexual reproduction of Agaricus. The vegetative hyphae with
uninucleate haploid cells from mycelia of opposite strains (heterothallic) or from the same
mycelium (homothallic) come into contact and fuse. Each of such fusion results into a bi-
nucleate (dikaryotic) cell. The dikaryotic cell, by successive divisions, gives rise to the bi-
nucleate or dikaryotic mycelium. This dikaryotic mycelium is perennial and produces the
characteristic fruiting body of the mushroom year after year.
(b) Karyogamy:
This is the second step in sexual reproduction. This step is considerably delayed and takes
place in the young basidium. In it the fusion of the two nuclei of dikaryon takes place.
(c) Meiosis:
It is the third and last step in sexual reproduction. It takes place in basidium prior to
basidiospores formation. Karyogamy is immediately followed by meiosis. Thus, the
basidiospores, formed after meiosis, are haploid.
Development of Basidiocarp
•The subterranean secondary mycelium takes nutrients from the soil and then forms the
fruiting body or the basidiocarp.
•Basidiocarps develop as small ‘white-knot’ like structures at the tips of hyphae.
•These hyphal knots enlarge gradually and give rise to button stage.
•At button stage, the developing basidiocarp is differentiated into a basal bulbous part and
an apical hemispherical region. The basal part forms the stipe, and the apical hemispherical
part, the pileus.
•Some hyphae at the junction of the stipe and pileus are drawn apart and form a ring-like
chamber, called pre-lamellar chamber. The inner surface of the roof of the pre-lamellar
chamber becomes deeply concave and it is lined with alternating radial bands of slow and
rapidly dividing cells. The latter form gill primordia, which develop into gill lamellae that
hang downward into the prelamellar chamber.
•As pileus expands, there is an increase in radial interspaces between the gills. A membrane,
called velum or inner veil, connects the margin of the pileus with the stipe. Due to the
elongation of stalk, the buttons are raised on the soil surface.
•The upper hemispherical region of the button grows more rapidly than the stalk. This
causes rupture of the velum and the upper hemispherical region finally expands out as an
open umbrella-like structure with numerous gills attached to its lower surface. The gills are
exposed by the rupture of the velum.
Mature Basidiocarp
•An umbrella-like pileus, 5-12 cm in diameter, is present at the distal end of the stipe. The
upper convex surface of the pileus is white, light brown or yellow in colour. About 300-600
radially arranged gills hang down from the inner surface of the pileus.
•The surface of the gill is enveloped by a fertile layer, the hymenium. The gills are of light
pink colour when young, but they turn brown or purplish black at maturity.
Internal Structure of Gills
•In the internal structure of gill following three regions can be distinguished.
•Trama. This is the central sterile region of the gill. It consists of many loosely arranged
interwoven hyphae.
•Sub-hymenium (hypothecium). This region is situated on both sides of the trama. It is
formed by the lateral branches of hyphae of trama region. The cells of these hyphal
branches are isodiametric and 2-3 nucleate. This is also a sterile zone like trama.
•Hymenium. This is the outermost layer of the gill. It is fertile and composed of hyphae of
the sub-hymenium region. In this region the cells are arranged in palisade-like layer. These
aseptate fertile cells are known as basidium. Club-shaped sterile paraphysis occur in
between the fertile cells.
•The young basidium is a dikaryon and as the basidium matures the two nuclei fuse to form
a diploid nucleus.
•This diplophase is ephemeral and after karyogamy the diploid nucleus divides meiotically to
form four haploid nuclei.
•Of these four nuclei, two are of (+) strain and two of (-) strain.
•At the distal end of the basidium, four peg-like outgrowths are formed.
•These outgrowths are known as sterigmata.
•The sterigmata swells up at their tips and forms a single basidiospore.
•Thus, four monokaryotic basidiospores are formed in a basidium.
Life cycle of Agaricus

Agaricus

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Agaricus

It can be studied in two parts:

(a) Vegetative mycelium (living inside the soil)

(a) Vegetative mycelium

3. Reproduction in Agaricus campestris

Life cycle of Agaricus

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