Tremella mesenterica

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Tremella mesenterica
Tremella mesenterica with Peniophora host
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Tremellomycetes
Order: Tremellales
Family: Tremellaceae
Genus: Tremella
Species:
T. mesenterica
Binomial name
Tremella mesenterica
Retz. (1769)
Synonyms[1]

Helvella mesenterica Schaeff. (1774)
Tremella lutescens

Pers.
(1798)
Tremella quercina Pollini (1816)

Tremella mesenterica
View the Mycomorphbox template that generates the following list
Smooth hymenium
No distinct cap
Hymenium attachment is not applicable
Lacks a stipe
Spore print is white to yellow
Ecology is
parasitic
Edibility is edible

Tremella mesenterica (common names include yellow brain, golden jelly fungus, yellow trembler, and witches' butter[2]) is a common jelly fungus in the family Tremellaceae of the Agaricomycotina. The gelatinous, orange-yellow fruit body of the fungus, which can grow up to 7.5 cm (3 in) diameter, has a convoluted or lobed surface that is greasy or slimy when damp.

It is most frequently found on both dead but attached and recently fallen branches, especially of

tropical regions, including those of Africa, Australia, Eurasia, and the Americas. Although considered bland and flavorless, the fungus is edible. It produces carbohydrates that have attracted research interest because of their various biological activities
.

Taxonomy

The species was originally described in 1769 from Sweden by Anders Jahan Retzius.[4] It was later (1822) sanctioned by Elias Magnus Fries in the second volume of his Systema Mycologicum.[5] It is the type species of the genus Tremella.[6] Its distinctive appearance has led the species to accumulate a variety of common names, including "yellow trembler",[7] "yellow brain", "golden jelly fungus", and "witches' butter;" although this latter name is also applied to Exidia glandulosa,[8] its origin may stem from Swedish folklore surrounding witchcraft, in which a bile spewed up by thieving "Carriers" is referred to as, "butter of the witches."

—They confessed also, that the devil gives them a beast, about the shape and bigness of a cat, which they call a carrier ; and he gives them a bird, too, as big as a raven, but white : And these creatures they can send any where and wherever they come, they take away all sorts of victuals they can get, as butter, cheese, milk, bacon, and all sorts of seeds, whatever they can find, and carry it to the witches. What the bird brings, they may keep for themselves : but what the carrier brings, they must reserve for the devil, and that is brought to Blockula, where he gives them of it as much as he thinks fit. —They added, that the carriers filled themselves so full oftentimes, that they are forced to spew by the way, which spewing is found in several gardens, where colworts grow, and not far from the houses of the witches. It is of a yellow colour like gold, and is called the butter of the witches.[9]

Phylogeny and relationships of T. mesenterica and related species based on rDNA sequences.[10]

The

specific epithet is a Latin adjective formed from the Ancient Greek word μεσεντέριον (mesentérion), "middle intestine", from μεσο- (meso-, "middle, center") and ἔντερον (énteron, "intestine"), referring to its shape.[11][12]

The species formerly recognized as Tremella lutescens is now seen as a form of T. mesenterica with washed-out colors and considered a synonym.[13]

Based on molecular analysis of the sequences of the D1/D2 regions of the large subunit ribosomal RNA gene and the internal transcribed spacer regions of rRNA, T. mesenterica is most closely related to T. coalescens, T. tropica, and T. brasiliensis. This analysis included 20 of the estimated 120 Tremella species.[10]

Description

The fruit body has an irregular shape, and usually breaks through the bark of dead branches. It is up to 7.5 cm (3 in) broad and 2.5 to 5 cm (1 to 2 in) high, rounded to variously lobed or brain-like in appearance. The fruit body is gelatin-like but tough when wet, and hard when dry. The surface is usually smooth, the lobes translucent, deep yellow or bright yellow-orange, fading to pale yellow, rarely unpigmented and white or colorless. The fruit bodies dry to a dark reddish or orange. The spores, viewed in mass, are whitish or pale yellow.[14]

Life cycle

Tremella mesenterica has a yeastlike phase in its

isoprenyl peptide.[17] Fruit bodies arise from a primordium located beneath the wood bark, and sometimes more than one fruit body can originate separately from the same primordia.[6]

Microscopic characteristics

The

spores are broadly ellipsoid to oblong, on average 10–16 by 6–9.5 µm; they germinate by germ tube or by yeast-like conidia of identical form to the conidia produced on the conidiophores.[18]

Similar species

Tremella aurantia with Stereum host
Dacrymyces chrysospermus

Tremella mesenterica is frequently confused with

neotropical areas and Japan, and the North American species T. mesenterella are also similar.[6]

Tremella mesenterica may also be confused with members of the family Dacrymycetaceae, like Dacrymyces chrysospermus (formerly D. palmatus), due to their superficial resemblance.[14] Microscopic examination shows that the Dacrymycetaceae have Y-shaped basidia with two spores, unlike the longitudinally split basidia characteristic of Tremella;[20] additionally, D. chrysospermus is smaller, has a whitish attachment point to its substrate, and grows on conifer wood.[14]

Naematelia aurantia is less frequently translucent and can be distinguished by host.[21]

Habitat and distribution

Typical habit

Tremella mesenterica has a

red alder.[7] It prefers to grow in habitats ranging from mesic to wet.[6] The fungus grows parasitically on the mycelium of wood-rotting corticioid fungi in the genus Peniophora.[3] Occasionally, T. mesenterica and its host fungus are found fruiting together.[23]

Uses

Although some have claimed the fungus to be inedible

vegetarians to prepare "an immunomodulating cooling soup with lotus seed, lily bulbs, jujube, etc."[29]

Bioactive compounds

Some Tremella species produce

antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, hypocholesterolemic, hepatoprotective, and antiallergic effects.[35][36]

References

  1. ^ "Tremella mesenterica (Schaeff.) Retz. 1769". MycoBank. International Mycological Association. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
  2. ^ Alternatively spelled witch's or witches
  3. ^
    JSTOR 3760718
    .
  4. ^ Kungl. Svenska vetenskapsakademiens handlingar. Vol. 30. 1769.
  5. ^ Fries EM. (1822). Systema Mycologicum (in Latin). Vol. 2. Lundae: Ex Officina Berlingiana. p. 214. Retrieved 2010-03-08.
  6. ^
    doi:10.1139/b98-094
    .
  7. ^ a b Bandoni RJ, Szczawinski AF (1976). Guide to Common Mushrooms of British Columbia. Vancouver, Canada: British Columbia Provincial Museum. p. 202.
  8. ISBN 978-0-85199-826-8
    .
  9. ^ Sinclair, George (1789). Satan's invisible world discovered, or, A choice collection of modern relations proving evidently, against the atheists of this present age, that there are devils. Spirits, witches, and apparitions, from authentic records, and attestations of witnesses of undoubted veracity : To which is added, the marvellous history of Major Weir and his sister, the witches of Bargarran, Pittenweem, Calder, &c / By Mr. George Sinclair. p. 123.
  10. ^
    PMID 10843082
    .
  11. ^ Oxford English Dictionary Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2010. ss. vv. "mesenterium".
  12. ^
    ISBN 0-8131-9039-8
    . Retrieved 2010-03-08.
  13. ^
    ISBN 0-7112-2378-5
    .
  14. ^ a b c Kuo M. (2008). "Tremella mesenterica: Witch's Butter". MushroomExpert.Com. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
  15. doi:10.1139/b65-069
    .
  16. S2CID 30992778
    .
  17. doi:10.1271/bbb1961.43.2643
    .
  18. ^
    doi:10.1016/S0269-915X(09)80270-X
    .
  19. ISBN 0-86840-742-9
    . Retrieved 2010-03-07.
  20. ISBN 0-520-03656-5
    .
  21. ISBN 978-0-593-31998-7
    .
  22. ^ Lowy B. (1971). Flora neotropica. Monograph no. 6. Tremelalles. Hafner Publishing Company Inc.
  23. ^ a b Volk T. (2000). "Tremella mesenterica, witch's butter, Tom Volk's Fungus of the Month for October 2000". University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
  24. ISBN 978-0-7627-3109-1
    .
  25. ISBN 92-5-105157-7
    .
  26. ISBN 0-292-75125-7
    . Retrieved 2010-03-08.
  27. ISBN 0-89815-388-3
    .
  28. ISBN 0-19-280681-5
    .
  29. ISBN 962-996-229-2
    .
  30. S2CID 33943332
    .
  31. PMID 5962584
    .
  32. PMID 4700340
    .
  33. PMID 3072079
    .
  34. PMID 15178391
    .
  35. doi:10.1615/intjmedmushr.v4.i3.40
    .
  36. doi:10.1615/IntJMedMushr.v6.i4.40
    .

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tremella_mesenterica&oldid=1215075720"