Research Article Open Access

Mycelial pellet formation of marine-derived fungus: new formation pathway directly from hyphae

Abstract

Mycelial pellets are microbial particles formed during fungi culturing and their formation mechanisms are still under investigation. Spore aggregation is often considered as a crucial step for fungi to form mycelial pellets. In this work, the pellet formation processes of three fungi were investigated for proving the mycelial pellet formation without spores, and a marine-derived Aspergillus niger was selected as an example for the mechanism studies of mycelial pellet formation, and detailed processes of mycelium agglomeration and pellet formation were recorded. Experimental results showed that mycelial pellets can be formed directly from hyphae and the spore aggregation may not be an essential step. Moreover, the culture media pH had substantial effects on the pellet formation processes. Scanning electron microscope and infrared spectroscopy results indicated that the decrease of pelletization capacity was related to the change of extracellular polymeric substances. However, mycelium could not grow into mycelial pellets after adding 100 g/L talc into the culture media, while the spore inoculation method could still result in the formation of mycelial pellets under the same condition. This result indicated that although spore aggregation may not be essential, it is likely an enhancing factor for the mycelial pellet formation.

Tao Lu, Qi-Lei Zhang, Shan-Jing Yao

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