Namur Institute For Complex Systems

Corentin Bisot (VU Amsterdam)
2025-02-04 13:00 - 14:00 (Europe/Brussels)
Title : Transport logistics in a growing fungal network
Abstract :
Branching forms are ubiquitous in nature and evolved repeatedly throughout evolution. An example are mycorrhizal fungi, that have, for nearly 450 million years, constructed networks to collect and trade nutrient resources with plant roots. Because of their dependence on host-derived carbon, these fungi face conflicting trade-offs in building networks that balance construction costs against geographic coverage and long-distance resource transport to and from roots. How they navigate these design challenges is unknown. Using data from fungal colonies at the scale of individual filament growth but also internal cytoplasmic flows our lab investigates intimate relationships between growth, transport and trade.

We found a consistant pattern of colony propagation that emerges through the combination of branching and fusion of individual hyphae. The exact balance of these two ingredients can be adapted depending on fungal strategy. I will show how the necessity of transport within the colony, and trade with the plant, constrain the space of possible propagation patterns. I will conclude discussing how intracellular flows could be organizing to allow coherent trade patterns explaining the stability of the symbiosis accross such a wide timescale.

The seminar will take place in Room S08 at the Faculty of Sciences.
