Fungus Phonies

This topic has 10 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 15 years, 9 months ago by an open book.

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March 11, 2009 4:57 pm at 4:57 pm #589586

feivel
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There’s a plant called “Arabis holboellii,” which naturally grows a dainty, light blue flower atop its narrow stem. But wait. Sometimes you’ll see an Arabis holboellii sporting a bright yellow cluster of leaves that looks suspiciously like a buttercup. What’s going on?

Those yellow leaf clusters are “artificial” flowers. What happens is this: The plant gets infected with a type of fungus called “rust fungus.” This fungus causes the plant to stop its natural flower production, and to produce a cluster of leaves instead. The yellow fungus cells then gather along these leaves, providing the fake flower’s artificial coloring. Just as natural flowers attract insects like bees and butterflies, these artificial flowers do too. In fact, the fungus produces a sugary liquid inside its fake flower that is ten to a hundred times sweeter than the nectar of real flowers.

Why does the rust fungus do this? Plants produce natural flowers to attract insects, which then cross pollinate the plants and help them reproduce. The fake flowers do the same thing for the fungus. Insects cross pollinate the fungus colonies, helping them reproduce . . . which leads to still more natural, artificial flowers!

these fungi, without a brain, were able to come up with a cunning plan to reproduce. it took them millions of years but evolution sustained them miraculously until they could come up with this complex reproduction strategy.

they were then technologically brilliant enough to figure out the genetic code of the plant and engineer precise changes in the code forcing the plant to conform to their devious schemes.

March 11, 2009 5:59 pm at 5:59 pm #640596

feivel
Participant

sometimes when evolutionists twist and turn into ridiculous contortions trying to explain how a clearlycunningly designed complex system could have come about through chaos, they usually are forced to dramatically simplify the supposed chain of events.

for example:

in the above system, in order to initiate the remarkable events the fungus has to first enter the plant, simple right? well: no even miniscually small event in a biological system is simple

here is a sketch as to how the rust fungus enters the plant, even this description is extremely bare boned. dont expect to understand it, just get a taste for it.

When a rust conidium lands on a plant surface, it needs to attach to it, or it would simply be washed off. First, weak, hydrophobic interactions are formed between the spore and the cutin of the plant cell surface. Then unknown signals cause the production of hydrophobic mucilaginous macromolecules called adhesins. These will stick the spore irreversibly to the plant surface.[1] Once attached, the spore will germinate. Rust fungi then penetrate the plant by using the natural opening of the stoma, but first the growing germ tube must locate it. Rust fungi efficiently locate stomata by the use of thigmotropism. The germ tube grows in a random manner until it reaches a ridge between epidermal cells. At this point, it will start to grow perpendicular to the ridge, greatly increasing its chances of locating a stoma.

The stoma is the site of appresorium formation, a structure that functions to both firmly anchor the fungus and aid in penetration.[3] In the rust fungi appresorial formation is controlled by a process of thigmodifferentiation. Appresoria are formed when the germ tube detects ridges that match the dimensions of the stomatal lips of its host species.

It has been proposed that this process is mediated by a mechanosensitive calcium ion channel that is located at the germ tube tip. This ion channel would transduce the stretching of the cell membrane caused by changes in leaf topography into ion fluxes that lead to changes in gene expression and appresorium formation.[4]. This theory is supported by experiments that show that applying Ca2+ externally to the germ tube causes differentiation.

From the appresorium an infection peg grows down into the plant and between the mesophyll cells.

Rust fungi are biotrophs, meaning they gain their nutrients from living cells. This requires a specialised entension of the fungus into a living plant cell called a haustorium. This develops from a haustorial mother cell. The plant cell membrane invaginates around the main haustorial body and the space between the two membranes becomes known as the extra-haustorial matrix. An iron and phosphorus rich neck band bridges the plant and fungal membranes and acts as a seal preventing the escape of nutrients into the plant apoplast. The haustorium contains amino acid and hexose sugar transporters and H+-ATPases for the active transport of nutrients from the plant cell.[5]

The rust fungus will then continue to grow and invade the plant until it is ready for sporulation.

this is just a bare sketch of our very limited knowledge of just the tiny beginning of a gigantic complex, miraculous invasion

March 11, 2009 6:06 pm at 6:06 pm #640597

moish01
Member

ok, that one didn’t get through. i’ll try again.

feivel can you explain this:

it took them millions of years

and this:

evolution sustained them

March 11, 2009 6:50 pm at 6:50 pm #640598

feivel
Participant

moish

no one can explain those statements

those statements are ABSURD

that was my point

it was said sarcastically

March 11, 2009 7:05 pm at 7:05 pm #640599

moish01
Member

maybe put a little disclaimer. i was wondering if you maybe copied and pasted it without editing. i didn’t think you would write that yourself…

March 11, 2009 9:57 pm at 9:57 pm #640600

squeak
Participant

moish, no picture?

March 11, 2009 9:59 pm at 9:59 pm #640601

moish01
Member

what should i put a picture of? mushrooms??

March 11, 2009 10:02 pm at 10:02 pm #640602

squeak
Participant

Athlete’s foot would probably resemble it closely enough. Only its mother would notice the difference.

March 11, 2009 10:04 pm at 10:04 pm #640603

moish01
Member

i thought athlete’s foot was mushrooms 😉

March 11, 2009 10:17 pm at 10:17 pm #640604
moish01
Member
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sorry, squeak this is the closest you’re gonna get
March 11, 2009 10:33 pm at 10:33 pm #640605

an open book
Participant

so you did have a picture of fungus.
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