More than 70 species of mushrooms are bioluminescent. Some of them light up only at night. As the temperature drops when the sun sets, the fungi begin to glow. Scientists believe fungi such as mushrooms, glow in order to attract insects. Insects are drawn to the mushrooms, which crawl around them. They pick up the spores of the fungi and help spread them. Fungal spores are microscopic biological particles that allow fungi to reproduce- what seeds are for plants, spores are for fungi. The light of fungi ranges from blue to green and yellow, depending on the species.
Scientists went foraging for the glow-in-the-dark mushrooms in Brazil and Vietnam. Back in the lab, reports Becker, they crushed the mushrooms to make a slurry filled with luciferins. Then they isolated the luciferin and studied it, capturing its chemical structure and experimenting with its ability to fuel those flourescent colors.
Not only does the team now know that the mushrooms are fueled by their own kind of luciferin, but they also figured out that the enzyme that combines with the chemical to trigger light could be what they call “promiscuous.”
That means that the enzyme might be able to interact with different luciferins—and produce even more shades of that pretty glow. And that suggests that when it comes to these magical mushrooms, there’s even more to discover.
Picture Credit : Google