Nematophagous Fungus | Hacker News Reader

Nematophagous Fungus

en.wikipedia.org

46 pointslordgilman10 comments

Oyster mushrooms are known predators of nematodes. They are not mentioned in the above wiki, but their own confirms that they exploit toxins to capture and feed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleurotus

This is part of the issue with the invasive Golden Oyster in North America, their mycelium paralyze and kill nematodes very efficiently which (directly or indirectly) leads to outcompetition of native fungii. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47536102

They're commonly foraged, and naturally present a curious question of whether they're a vegan food since they're carnivorous.

I thought about this and looked for a definition. It’s all about animal products, presumably making this fungus vegan?

There is an ISO definition of vegan (23662:2021) but it seems to cost $88 and then I emerged from the rabbit hole.

Here’s the iso as pdf (it only apply to food): https://cdn.standards.iteh.ai/samples/76574/4b2534a5a3934ca1...

Most vegan adhere to a more practical and pragmatic definition, like this one, from the association founded by the veganism-word initiators:

https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/definition-veganism

Thanks.

> Most vegan adhere to a more practical and pragmatic definition

And wow yes. ‘I’m a ISO standard vegan’ isn’t something I’ve heard and it has probably never happened.

Nematodes are critical to the nitrogen fixing process of plants https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhlZxsnn1NU

I wonder if nematophagous fungi have been considered to treat Beech Leaf Disease.

It's an interesting idea, the biggest issue is that the BLD pathogen lives in leaf tissue and most nematophagous fungi dwell in soil or woody stems. If an endophytic fungi were found to have an adverse effect on nematodes, that might be the key to making this work. See 'phyllosphere microbiome' research for real attempts at doing this sort of thing.

Fungi don't play

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