A sclerotium (/skləˈroʊʃəm/; pl.: sclerotia (/skləˈroʊʃə/),[help 1] is a compact mass of hardened fungal mycelium containing food reserves. One role of sclerotia is to survive environmental extremes. In some higher fungi such as ergot, sclerotia become detached and remain dormant until favorable growth conditions return. Sclerotia initially were mistaken for individual organisms and described as separate species until Louis René Tulasne proved in 1853 that sclerotia are only a stage in the life cycle of some fungi.[1] Further investigation showed that this stage appears in many fungi belonging to many diverse groups. Sclerotia are important in the understanding of the life cycle and reproduction of fungi, as a food source, as medicine (for example, ergotamine), and in agricultural blight management.
Examples of fungi that form sclerotia are ergot (Claviceps purpurea), Polyporus tuberaster, Psilocybe mexicana, Agroathelia delphinii and many species in Sclerotiniaceae. Although not fungal, the plasmodium of slime molds can form sclerotia in adverse environmental conditions.[2]
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- ^ L. R. Tulasne (1853) "Mémoire sur l'ergot des Glumacées" (Memoir on the ergot of grasses), Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Botanique, 3rd series, 20 : 5–56.
- ^ Anna Krzywda1, Elżbieta Petelenz1, Dominika Michalczyk1 e Przemysław M. Płonka (2008). "Sclerotia of the acellular (true) slime mould Fuligo septica as a model to study melanization and anabiosis" (PDF). Cellular & Molecular Biology Letters. 13 (1): 130–143. doi:10.2478/s11658-007-0047-5. PMC 6275577. PMID 17965965.
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