Melanogaster bruma: edible or not, description and photo

Development and embryogenesis

Sex determination

Drosophila is characterized by XY sex determination. Unlike humans, in fruit flies, sex is determined not by the presence of the Y chromosome, but by the ratio of the number of X chromosomes to the number of haploid sets of autosomes. With a ratio of 1, the individual develops into a female, and with a ratio of 1/2, into a male. In case of violations, infertile individuals are formed: the so-called intersex (if the given ratio lies between 1/2 and 1), super males (the ratio is less than 1/2) and super females (the ratio is greater than 1). The presence of the Y chromosome does not affect sex in any way, but males without it are sterile, since it contains the genes responsible for spermatogenesis.

The key gene in determining the sex of fruit flies is the gene sex-lethal (sxl). It is the difference in alternative splicing of this gene that gives rise to the differences between the two sexes.
In determining the variant of splicing of the sxl gene, the so-called numerator genes (sis-a, sis-b (sisterless-a, sisterless-b), runt (runt)), localized on the X chromosome, and denominator genes (denominator) (dpn (deadpan), da (daughterless), emc (extramacrohaeta), etc.), localized in autosomes. Both are transcription factors, the ratio of which determines the alternative splicing of the sxl gene. Activators (numerators) and repressors (denominators) are capable of forming complexes. Depending on the ratio of the number of these genes, activators will either overcome the action of repressors, or repressors will suppress the activity of activators. In the first case (with the ratio X: A = 1, the genotype is female), the gene sxl will begin to be read from the proximal (early) promoter. Then, during alternative splicing, an active protein product sxl will be formed, which is a splicing factor and, by binding to its own pre-mRNA, fixes this type of splicing. In another case, if repressors suppressed activators (ratio X: A = 0.5 - male genotype), transcription sxl will start with a distal (late) promoter. In this case, an inactive protein is formed, since the "male exon" (third) is not excised, in which the UGA stop codon is located, which prevents the formation of a full-fledged mRNA.

Protein product sxl females are an active splicing factor not only for their own RNA, but also for the pre-mRNA of the gene transformer (tra). In males, sxl is inactive as a splicing factor; therefore, the gene product transformer Is also an inactive protein.

The next stage in the cascade is the gene Doublesex (dsx). In females, the tra protein (together with tra-2, which works in both sexes) modifies its splicing, which leads to the formation of the DsxFem protein (female variant). In males, this modification does not occur, splicing proceeds in a different way, and another protein is formed - DsxM (male variant). These proteins are transcription factors that affect the activity of genes responsible for the development of phenotypic sex.

Dose compensation for X chromosome activity

In males, the concentration of proteins encoded on the X chromosome is about the same as in females, although they themselves have half the X chromosomes. This means that in Drosophila there are mechanisms that create dose compensation, which is different from human - in women, one of the X chromosomes is turned off, while in male Drosophila, the intensity of transcription from a single X chromosome doubles. This can be seen on cytological preparations, where it is clearly noticeable that the X chromosome of the male is about 25% looser than the X chromosome of females, it contains 1.5 times more non-histone proteins. This effect is caused by the activity of certain proteins: msl-1, msl-2, msl-3, mle and histone H4 with acetylated lysine at the 16th position.The key role in the activation of this mechanism is played by the interaction of genes. msl-2 and the notorious sxl... If the sxl protein is normal (as in females), it binds msl-2 mRNA in the so-called UTR regions, thereby suppressing its translation. That is, females do not have the msl-2 protein, while males do. And in the presence of the msl-2 protein, the other proteins mentioned (msl-1, msl-3, mle and H4Ac16) can also bind to DNA, which make the DNA looser, which simplifies transcription from the X chromosome.

How to find truffles

In addition to the differences mentioned above, there is another characteristic sign of how to distinguish a real delicacy from imitators. You can find out that the mushroom is edible by its depth: a real truffle can be found no closer than 50–70 cm from the surface of the earth, while false varieties grow no deeper than 15 cm.

The truffle harvesting season is quite short - the black varieties are harvested from late autumn to early spring. The collection period for white representatives of the species is even shorter - beginning around November and until the end of the year, that is, a little over a month. For collection, specially trained dogs or pigs are used, otherwise this mushroom will not be found. In Russia, it is found on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, in the middle zone of the European part, on the territory of the Moscow region. Black truffle grows best in calcareous soils.

But the white variety of the mushroom prefers the edges of deciduous forests, glades, hazel groves, birch groves, which are not deprived of sunlight. The most widespread is in the Oryol, Smolensk regions, some areas of the Volga region (Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Vladimir). Although the coveted trophy is also found in more northern regions (Moscow, St. Petersburg).

It is extremely difficult to find a valuable mushroom without a dog and appropriate training, but some useful tips will help you in this exciting, albeit difficult task:

• the presence of a fungus in a specific place is recognized by its characteristic feature - the ashy color of the soil;
• mushrooms live in families in the ground, keep this in mind - if you find 1-2 pieces in the ground, do not stop, dig up the soil nearby;
• will tell you about the location of the desired prize and traces of digging the earth by animals, the accumulation of small insects over a certain place;
• it is best to use a trained dog for searches - this is the most common and effective way to find a wild mushroom.

Now you know the difference between real and false truffles, and even some tricks for collecting this truly royal delicacy. If you decide to go in search, we wish you good luck and a good harvest.

Drosophila flight

The wings of a front sight are capable of oscillating at a frequency of up to 250 times per second. Flight consists of straight forward movements alternating with rapid turns called saccades. With such turns, the front sight is able to turn 90 degrees in less than 50 milliseconds.

Drosophila and probably many other flies have optic nerves that lead directly to the wing muscles (whereas in other insects they always lead to the brain first of all), which dramatically speeds up their reaction.

For a long time it was thought that the characteristics [] of the flight of fruit flies are determined by the viscosity of the air, and not by the inertness of their body. Recent research by Michael Dickinson and Rosalyn Sayaman has shown that when a front sight makes a turn, it first accelerates, then decelerates at the bend, and then accelerates again at the end of the bend. This shows that inertia is the dominant force here, as is the case with large flying animals.

Drosophila as a breeding object

Fruit flies, due to the rate of their reproduction, have long become a popular food item in
terrarium

Mass breeding of Drosophila as food is especially important for lovers of small amphibians and reptiles, especially representatives of the family of dart frogs (Dendrobatidae). Most often, various wingless forms of flies are grown, which are much easier to catch for terrarium animals.

Amateurs have developed many recipes for nutrient media for the mass cultivation of fruit flies.Sometimes Drosophila melanogaster is grown as a supplementary live food for aquarium fish.

Mushrooms found near Novosibirsk turned out to be false truffles

A resident of the Novosibirsk town of Krasnoobsk all weekend imagined how he would raise the Siberian economy to the skies and make Novosibirsk a world leader in the supply of ingredients to the best restaurants in Europe.

Such thoughts came into my head after Dmitry Dubrovin found (or rather even dug) something in his native village that looked like an expensive delicacy - truffles.

The same mushrooms that grow in southern France and Switzerland, a kilo of these costs as much as an ordinary driver Dubrovin earns in three months.

“They smell like Amaretto,” Dmitry described the find. - Well, it’s like truffles.

The driver sent the photographs of the find to Komsomolskaya Pravda, and we showed them to the scientists. They promised to study and answer the main question: are Dmitry's dreams destined to come true? Mycologist Vyacheslav Vlasenko's answer was short:

- Unfortunately, the mushroom in the photo has nothing to do with truffles. This is Melanogaster broomeanus. I don't remember being eaten ...

Inside the mushroom there is a kind of granular mass that looks like black caviar in some way. Dmitry DUBROVIN

The ellipsis at the end seemed to hint that the mycologist himself was offended for Siberia. But maybe he was still wrong? We sent the pictures to another expert - mycologist Dmitry Ageev, who runs the site "Mushrooms of the Novosibirsk Region".

- Judging by the photographs and the described "fragrant" smell, a resident of Krasnoobsk found Melanogaster Bruma, - agrees with his colleague Ageev. - This is an unusual rare mushroom listed in the Red Book of the Novosibirsk Region. In mid-summer, it can sometimes be found in the topsoil under birch trees.

The most valuable types of truffles - white and black - prefer a milder climate and grow in the oak forests of Europe.

It is interesting that although Melanogaster looks like a European delicacy, in fact it is not even a brother of a real truffle.

- The closest relatives of Melanogaster, who are in the same family with them, are sows, well-known to mushroom pickers (they are also cowsheds), - says Ageev.

- Taking this opportunity, I would like to remind you that it has been proven: all pigs are poisonous, their use in some people causes deadly destruction of red blood cells and liver damage.

Therefore, you should not try Melanogaster, despite the pleasant smell - it is better to inform the mycologists about the find in the Red Book.

- This is definitely not a black truffle! - another scientist finally hacked down the business plan of the Siberian driver.

- Four species of Melanogaster grow in Russia, these mushrooms enter into symbiosis with deciduous species, for example oak or beech, - describes Yuri Rebriev, PhD in Biological Sciences at the Southern Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who specializes in gasteromycetes (this group of mushrooms includes the false truffle Melanogaster Bruma) ...

- On the cut, they really have a marble pattern - a black spore mass with whitish streaks of sterile tissue. At a young age, they can smell good, and with aging, the smell becomes pungent and unpleasant. Since Melanogaster form fruit bodies underground, it is quite difficult to find them. Their finds are rare.

SPECIFICALLY

How to tell a real truffle from a false one?

To the common man, the edible truffle and Melanogaster seem similar, like twin brothers. So how exactly are they different? - we asked the mycologist Dmitry Ageev.

- There are quite a few mushrooms with an underground lifestyle. And people, having dug out any mushroom with a closed structure, begin to take it for a truffle, - the expert explains. - Speaking in the context of Melanogaster, truffle is ascomycete, Melanogaster is basidiomycete. These are very large taxonomic groups, differing in the way spores are formed, which is clearly visible through a microscope.

But even without a microscope, you can see the difference by eye.

- Both Melanogaster and truffles show a structure in the form of a marble pattern on the cut - the same adaptation to fruiting underground. In truffles, this pattern is larger, and the pulp and veins itself are lighter than in Melanogaster, says the mycologist.

- The pulp of real truffles is of a waxy consistency, while in Melanogaster it looks like a dense black jelly penetrated with cartilaginous walls. In addition, the surface of some truffles, for example black, is not smooth, but cracked, covered with black scales.

Although, outwardly, if you do not touch them, do not smell, do not compare with each other, they are really similar, in the eyes of an unprepared mushroom picker.

Taxonomy

The insect belongs to the subgenus Sophophora (eng.) Russian. kind Drosophila... This genus turned out to be paraphyletic, which created the possibility of its division and isolation. Sophophora into an independent genus. In this case, the name of the species would change, which would lead to inconvenience due to the huge amount of work devoted to it. A proposal was made as an exception to the rules to make D. melanogaster type species of the genus, so that it retains the name with its possible division. However, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature in 2010 rejected this proposal.

Melanogaster broomeanus

Current title

Systematic position

Etymology of the species epithet

Broomeanus, in honor of Broome. Christopher Edmund Broome, 1812 - 1886, English mycologist.

Other names: Sometimes called false truffle.

Habit

Fruit body: Rounded, star-shaped, merry, nested (gasteroid)

Hymenophore: Absent or difficult to classify

Fruiting body

Fruit bodies are almost spherical or irregularly tuberous, up to 80 mm in diameter, at the base with rare brown mycelial strands.

The peridium is yellow-brown at a young age, darkens at maturity, brown, dark brown, glabrous or slightly tomentose, smooth.

Gleb is hard-hardy, at first brown, then brown-black, consists of numerous rounded chambers filled with a shiny black gelatinous substance. The layers are white, yellow or blackish.

The smell of mature, drying fruit bodies is very pleasant, with spicy, fruity notes.

Microscopy

The spores are brown, 3.4 - 4.5 × 7.5 - 10 µm, oval, truncated at the base.

Ecology and distribution

Substrate: Soil, litter

Grows in deciduous forests, shallow in the soil under a layer of fallen leaves. Possibly forms mycorrhiza with birch and other trees.

It is difficult to judge the distribution of the species in Western Siberia and its rarity, because fruiting bodies, normally hidden under the litter and soil, can only be discovered by chance. In the Novosibirsk region, it is listed as a rare species. In Akademgorodok, it occurs under large birches within the boundaries of multi-storey buildings, along paths, on trampled lawns, where fruit bodies protrude from the substrate, and they are easy to notice; from year to year bears fruit in one place.

Fruiting

The divisions correspond to the decades of the month.

Nutritional properties

Some sources cite it as edible with care. Matt Trappe et

al. note that some species have a very bright smell and give a recipe for butter flavored with melanogaster fruit bodies.

Conservation status

• Red Data Book of the Novosibirsk Region 2008. A rare species. It is necessary to control the state of known populations of the species, search for new locations, protect and monitor them.
• Red Data Book of the Novosibirsk Region 2018. Rare view. It is necessary to control the state of the known population, to search for new locations.

Notes

Ascomycete Hypomyces chrysospermus parasitizes the fruiting bodies of melanogaster Brum, as well as on many boletes.

Related materials

1. Red Data Book of the Novosibirsk Region: Animals, Plants and Mushrooms / Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Novosibirsk Region. - 2nd edition, revised and enlarged. - Novosibirsk: "Arta", 2008. - 528 p. - S. 505.
2. Huffman D. M., Tiffany L. H., Knaphaus G., Healy R. A. Mushrooms and Other Fungi of the Midcontinental United States. - Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2008 .-- 384 p. - P. 309.
3. Trappe M., Evans F., Trappe J. M.Field Guide to North American Truffles: Hunting, Identifying, and Enjoying the World's Most Prized Fungi. - Berkeley: Ten Speed ​​Press, 2007 .-- 144 p. - P. 63.
4. Red Data Book of the Novosibirsk Region: Animals, Plants and Fungi / Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Novosibirsk Region. - 3rd ed. revised and enlarged. - Novosibirsk: Printing house of Andrey Khristolyubov, 2018 .-- 588 p. - S. 538.

Link to this page for prints

Red Book view

Melanogaster ambiguus in the Red Data Book of the Nizhny Novgorod Region

Classification: Major Groups> Fungi, lichens and fungus-like organisms> Basidiomycota> Agaricomycetes> Boletales> Paxillaceae> Melanogaster

Legal status

Descriptions

Rizopogon yellowish: what it looks like, where it grows, photo, is it possible to eat

Rhizopogon yellowish - a rare saprophyte mushroom, a relative of raincoats. Belongs to the class Agaricomycetes, family Rizopogonovye, genus Rizopogon. Another name for the mushroom is yellowish root, in Latin - Rhizopogon luteolus.

Where do yellowish rhizopogons grow

Rhizopogon luteolus is found throughout the temperate and northern latitudes of Eurasia. Grows in small groups mainly in pine forests on sandy and sub-sandy soils.

Forms mycorrhiza with conifers, most often with pines. It can be found in wooded summer cottages and parks. Loves loose soils with a high nitrogen content.

The fruiting body of the fungus is almost completely hidden underground or under a layer of fallen leaves, so it is not easy to find it.

What do yellowish rhizopogons look like?

Rhizopogon luteolus has a rather strange appearance for a fungus. He is missing a hat and a leg. The division of the fruiting body into upper and lower parts is rather arbitrary. Outwardly, it resembles a tuber of young potatoes. Has a size from 1 to 5 cm.

Young specimens are whitish-olive or light brown, mature ones are brown or brown. The surface of the fruiting body is dry. As it grows, its skin gradually cracks. The fruit body is entangled with gray-black filaments of the mycelium.Mature specimens have a pronounced garlic smell.

Spores are ellipsoidal, slightly asymmetric, shiny, smooth, transparent. The size of the spores is approximately 8 x 3 µm.

Taste qualities of the mushroom yellowish rhizopogon

Rhizopogon luteolus has a low taste. Despite the fact that it is considered edible.

Fried Rhizopogon tastes like a raincoat.

Benefits and harm to the body

Rhizopogon luteolus belongs to the fourth flavor category. The composition contains nutrients, but if used and prepared incorrectly, it is dangerous and can harm the body.

False doubles

Rhizopogon yellowish is similar in appearance to its relative - pinkish rhizopogon (Rhizopogon roseolus), another name for which is a blushing truffle or a turning pink truffle. This mushroom has a yellowish skin, if broken or cut, the flesh turns pink in this place.

The fruit body of a pinking truffle has a tuberous or irregularly rounded shape. Most of it is underground. The wall of the fruiting body is whitish or yellowish; when pressed, it becomes pinkish.

Rhizopogon pinkish edible, suitable for consumption only at a young age.

It is partially or completely hidden in the ground. The skin of a young mushroom is velvety; in a mature one, it becomes smooth and slightly cracks. Grows in spruce and pine forests, sometimes found in deciduous.

The harvesting season is from June to October. Never grows alone.

Rizopogon yellowish resembles dubious melanogaster (Melanogaster ambiguus). It is a very rare edible mushroom that grows singly in deciduous forests from May to October.

The pulp of the mushroom is purple-black, thick, fleshy, with a slight smell of garlic. Taste quality is low.

Collection rules

The harvesting season is from July to September. Rhizopogon luteolus is best harvested at the end of the season when it produces the highest yields.

Use

For eating, it is necessary to choose young specimens with a pleasant creamy pulp (old dark mushrooms cannot be used).

First, they must be rinsed under running water, carefully scrubbing each copy to remove the garlic taste and smell, then peel the thin skin.

Rhizopogon luteolus is prepared in the same way as raincoats, which are their closest relatives. All types of culinary processing are suitable for cooking - boiling, frying, stewing, baking, but they are most delicious when fried.

Attention! The mushroom can be dried, but only at a high temperature, otherwise it will germinate. Rhizopogon yellowish - a little-known species even among mushroom pickers

It is easy to confuse it with a white truffle, which is used by scammers selling it at a high price.

Rhizopogon yellowish - a little-known species even among mushroom pickers. It is easy to confuse it with a white truffle, which is used by scammers selling it at a high price.

Drosophila genome

Genome Drosophila melanogaster contains 4 pairs of chromosomes: a pair X / Y and three autosomes, marked as 2, 3 and 4. The fourth chromosome is small, dot-shaped; X (or first), 2 and 3 chromosomes are metacentric. The genome consists of approximately 132 million base pairs and contains approximately 13,767 genes. The genome has now been sequenced and annotated.

Karyotype: 8 chromosomes (2n)

Genome: 0.18 (0.12-0.21) pg (C value)

Human resemblance

About 61% of known human diseases have a recognizable match in the fruit fly genetic code, 50% of protein sequences have analogs in mammals. Fruit flies are used in the genetic modeling of several human diseases, including Parkinson's, Huntington's and Alzheimer's. The fly is also often used to study the mechanisms underlying immunity, diabetes, cancer, and drug addiction.

Behavioral genetics

In 1971, Ron Konopka and Seymour Benzer published a paper entitled Clock mutants of Drosophila melanogaster", In which they described the first mutations that influenced the behavior of the animal.Under natural conditions, flies exhibit a rhythm of activity with a period of about 24 hours. Scientists have found mutants with a faster and slower pace of life - flies that moved and rested at arbitrary intervals. Studies over 30 years have shown that these mutations (and others similar) affect a group of genes and their derivatives that are responsible for the biochemical or molecular clock. These "clocks" are found in many fly cells, but the clock cells that control activity are several dozen neurons in the fly's central brain.