Aborted Entoloma (WTF?)

[MicroDoc]

Apologies for the implied vulgarity in the subject line but when I read about this mushroom, that is exactly what I said.   I came across a large number of these while hiking the Audobon trails in Bernardsville, NJ.   All (at least 100) were growing amid exposed Beech tree roots on a steep slope above the Passaic river.

I'm reading all about them and I can't help but feel skeptical of the explanations.  Entoloma parasitizing Armillaria.  Scouring the surrounding area, I could not find Entoloma nor Armillaria alone, yet NJ is currently full of Armillaria.  Some sources indicate that maybe I should have been able to find "unaborted" Entoloma in the same area.  Hmm.   It's fascinating.  Can anyone supply a good scientific source that explains (or tries to explain) how this works?

Interesting side note-- my local market was selling "shrimp of the woods" for $30/lb just a week or so ago.  Also for sale for the same price- chicken of the woods and purple laccaria.  I'm including one picture of the packaged laccaria ($7.50 for 4 oz).  

[Tasso]

Perhaps this will help. http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/sep2006.html

[MicroDoc]

Thanks Tasso. I've read that and the studies linked from the article. The findings just beg more questions. I'd like to see a comparison of DNA sequence from aborted entoloma to that of the armillaria. I might be able to do that if I can remember how to use BLAST...

[bprzyw]

Really good info here. I've got these growing on a stump where my honey mushrooms grow.  (Entoloma parasitizing Armillaria)

Might have to dig deeper...

Thanks

 

[Dave W]

To me, these look like the aborted Armillaria fruit bodies that result from being parasitized by Entoloma abortivum. Two-three weeks ago the aborted form appeared on my lawn --in an area where Armillaria has occurred in the past. There were neither normal Armillaria mushrooms nor E. abortivum fruit bodies present. Three days ago a nice fruiting of Armillaria appeared in the same area of lawn (concentrated maybe 10-15 feet away from where the aborted forms had been seen earlier. A week or so afo I collected some Armillaria along a trail through a forest. One small area there featured aborted Armillaria fruit bodies but no normal Armillaria or Entolma mushrooms. Over the years I have observed the aborted Armillaria fruit bodies with/without Entoloma and/or Armillaria mushrooms present. 

My understanding is that the aborted fruit bodies contain hyphae of both Armillaria and Entoloma. If so, then my guess is that it would be difficult to obtaing a clean read on a DNA sequence. On the other hand, maybe a dirty/ambiguous read will turn out to be an ID feature associated with these.

MicroDoc, what species of Laccaria is seen for sale? Looks vaguely like L. ochropurpurea, or maybe L. trussilata (a Pine Barrens species that is presumably dificult to clean). 

[MicroDoc]

Dave W-  thanks for the input.  So it is probable that my big patch of abortivum sprouts Armillaria and Entoloma at other times.  I'm getting more comfortable with the science supporting the conclusion that hyphae from both species are present.  That said, I'd like to see the micrographs that show this not so much because I'm skeptical but because this is some fascinating biology.  Sequencing would be definitive but it could be even easier- both parent organisms have been sequenced and are in free databases.  That means some simple genotyping could be done.  Hmm.

 As for the Laccaria, your guess is better than mine.  It's very possible that they were foraged from the Pine Barrens but I have no idea. 

[Dave W]

"Sequencing would be definitive but it could be even easier- both parent organisms have been sequenced and are in free databases.  That means some simple genotyping could be done.  Hmm."

But, if there's DNA representing two different organisms present in the same sample, wouldn't the "peaks" in the read be ambiguous? Would it be interpreted as a contaminated sample? 

[MicroDoc]

Modern sequencing techniques could sort the sequences in a mixed sample. I did a lot of sequencing back in the 80s and 90s but not since.  It's gotten incredibly sophisticated as well as extremely fast.  So the sorting would go like this-- the sample DNA is randomly fragmented and sequence is determined. A computer finds the overlaps between the sequenced fragments and puts together the entire genomic sequence.  If the sample were perfectly composed of 2 different genomes, the computer would spit out exactly that. Just coincidentally, this was part of the biotech lecture I gave today to my microbiology students.  And then to better understand how it works, we watched this video  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFCD8Q6qSTM.   At the college, we have all the equipment needed to extract the DNA from the mushroom but, being a community college, we don't have "nextgen sequencing" ability (nor old school sequencing ablity...) We could send it out to have the sequencing done but there is a cost. I could write a proposal for a small grant...  Another temporary roadblock is covid-19.  At present none of us faculty can even get on campus without permission.  All of my classes are online until next summer after we are all vaccinated.