Laser-based manipulation of growth direction and intracellular processes in fungal hyphae

摘要

Fungal growth is concentrated in elongated tips, called hyphae, which have the tendency to maintain their direction of growth. Hyphal tips exhibit a number of tropisms in response to various factors e.g. nutrients, light, physical contact.Irradiation in the area of hyphal tips with a 1064 nm laser affected shown a sensing mechanism within the fungal tip. The result of this was a change of growth direction caused by Spitzenkoerper's tendency to move away from the trap. The manipulation of the growth orientation of fungi in microstructures using focused laser beam has the potential to help the understanding of space search algorithms used by microorganisms.