In 1840, a famous British botanist, George Gardner reported, there is a strange sight from the village of Vila de Natividade forest in Brazil. A group of boys playing with a luminous object that was glowing fungus. They called flor-de-coco, and shows in Gardner, where the plant originated. Disclosed, the plant was derived from a pile of rotting leaves in the bottom of dwarf coconuts.
Gardner then send it to the luminous fungus Kew Herbarium in UK and named in honor of its discoverer Gardneri Agaricus. Investigators Dennis Desjardin and colleagues San Francisco State University, now has collected new specimens of the fungus that is almost forgotten and are classified as Neonothopanus gardneri. The findings of luminous plants that can now be opened online and is scheduled to be published in the print edition of the November / December 2011 under the name Mycologia.
They hope brazil mushrooms can be used to read by the villagers around the forest untouched electric lighting. Luminous fungi that was found also around the world. The question is how and why the fungus may glow.
More than 200 species of mushrooms in the world has the ability to glow when touched by the light of day. The light that comes from "biolumenesence", can be utilized in medicine. Fungus "rice" in the picture looks that fluoresces green so beautiful.
Desjardin, a professor in ecology and evolution at San Francisco University, discovered that light comes from sunlight mushrooms are accommodated by such a phosphor substance. The fungus that has entered the kingdom Neonothopanus anatomy fungus fibers that can absorb and accommodate the sun for later didistribusaikan again automatically.
Luminous fungi has been known for centuries from the bright orange color, blue or green light is very interesting. In fact, the jack o Lantern poisonous fungi, with bright colors phenomenon known as Foxfire. In the world of science, it turns out the light fungi substance that can be harnessed for use as a spreader knife or tracking the course of disease in the body channel.
With this biolumenesence invention, the scalpel blade used to incise the muscle will shine brightly. Because before use, surgical equipment will be covered with phosphorus fungi that will shine brightly when in contact with electric light. It is far more efficient than using incandescent lamps that consume thousands of watts of surgery.
How to make a light fungi and why he shines in the first place? It's an interesting question to the experts. Researchers believe that fungi make a light in the same way, like fireflies, through a mixture of chemical compound luciferin and luciferase. Luciferase is an enzyme that helps the interaction between luciferin, oxygen and water to produce a new compound that emits light.
Scientists have identified the luciferin and luciferase to the fungus in its application is currently used in various medical needs for an identification. "They shine 24 hours a day, provided water and oxygen available," said Desjardin explained.
Biology professor Dennis Desjardin of San Francisco State University and colleagues found a fungus in some of the hemisphere, among others, in Belize, Brazil, Dominica Republic, Jamaica, Japan, Malaysia, and Puerto Rico as well as Sumatra and Kalimantan, Indonesia. The invention includes four new species to science and luminescence of three new reports on known species. Three-quarters of luminous fungi, including species that are described in this study, belongs to the genus Mycena, a group of fungi that eat decaying organic material and as a source of nutrients to sustain their growth.
"What is important for the medical world is that the glow luminescence in Mycena species can be used to replace something in detecting nuclear material object in the body of a patient. It is very important because the use of, nuclear material that is inserted into the human body blood circulation there is excess negative compared with lumesecensce material phosphorescent mushrooms, "said Desjardin, author of the study .*** [DEDI RISKOMAR | PIKIRAN RAKYAT 18082011]
