Unit 6- Reproduction and Life Cycle of a Mushroom

After I chose my topic, I didn't want to waste time around so I started to look at the overall process, yes I think I'll be ambitious to the point that I want to produce the whole cycle and not only a small portion of it. For that I have to be careful, on the timing of the animation as well as emphasize the main processes inside the whole cycle.

But first things first, I had to understand the processes and how they function. So I started my research by looking at the over all cycle.


From what I read and remembered from yesterday, the mushroom cycle is continuous one so I could start to explain the cycle by any point, although it is more logical if I start to explain from the dispersion of spores in the gills of a mature mushroom. This will allow me to create an accurate life cycle where the first scene of the animation is connected to the last and so a whole loop is created.


By starting from the dispersion of the spore by a mature, or grown fungi, the cycle carries on the following order:

- With the dispersion of the spores ( haploid basidiospores) made aided by the natural conditions such as wind, it travels into the surrounding ground of the previous mushroom, and so it starts to germinate. (8)
- Germination of fungi spore is done towrds inside the ground and consists in the germination and growth of the same basidiospores into "young" haploid mycelia. (1)
- The short-lived haploid mycelia encounters another mycelia from the opposite matting type, so then we have two opposite matting type mycelia connected that will lead to Plasmogamy. (2)
- Plasmogamy consists in the creation of a dikaryotic mycelium by the connection of the two haploid mycelia, this dikaryotic mycelium can be seen as the "baby" organism, that is healthy enough to grow faster than the parent mycelia, this growth is only possible due to environmental cues, such as weather temperature, rain and seasonal changes. ( 3)
- These environmental conditions helps the dikaryotic mycelium to form extensive and compact masses that develop into a visible mushroom. (4)
- This mushroom have gills underneath the "cap", that by using a powerful microscope show dikaryotic basidias around the this same gills, each of these basidias hold 2 haploid nuclei. (5)
- By the process of karyogamy, these 2 haploid nuclei swallow and form 1 diploid nuclei inside a new-called diploid basidia. (6)
- By the process of meiosis, the diploid muclei is divided into 4 haploid nuclei, the diploid basidias grow to four appendages, and each of these 4 haploid nuclei enters the appendage and it forms a basidiospore. (7)
- when mature, these basidiospores are liberated by the power of the environmental conditions and the whole cycle starts again. (8)



This video accurately shows the cycle of the mushroom, despite it is being done well, I will use it as quick reference as I dont want to copy it at all.

Reading this cycle made understand it but also, it gave me already some ideas in terms of narrative structure and where the main processes of the cycle lay.

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