Table 2 |
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|
Comparison between P. anserina and N. crassa biology |
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| P. anserina [80] |
N. crassa [123] |
|
|
|
||
| Ecology |
||
| Habitat |
Restricted on dung of herbivores |
Prefers plants killed by fire |
| Always small biotopes and high competition |
Often large biotopes and low competition |
|
| Distribution |
Worldwide |
Prefers hot climate |
| Vegetative growth |
||
| Growth rate |
Average (7 mm/d) |
High (9 cm/d) |
| Ageing syndrome |
Senescence in all investigated strains |
Mostly immortal with some ageing strains |
| Hyphal interference |
Present |
Not yet described |
| Major pigments |
Melanins (green) |
Carotenoids (orange) |
| Reproduction |
||
| Asexual reproduction |
None |
Efficient with germinating conidia |
| Sexual generation time |
One week |
Three weeks |
| Mating physiology |
Pseudohomothallic |
Strict heterothallic |
| Ascospore dormancy |
No |
Yes |
| Ascospore germination trigger |
Passage through digestive track of herbivores in nature (on low nutrient media containing
ammonium acetate in the laboratory) |
60°c heat shock or chemicals (for example, furfural) |
| Gene inactivation processes |
||
| RIP |
Not efficient |
Very efficient |
| MSUD |
Not yet described |
Efficient |
| Quelling |
Not yet described |
Efficient |
|
|
||
|
Features and references pertaining to the biology of both fungi can be found at the corresponding reference. |
||
|
Espagne et al. Genome Biology 2008 9:R77 doi:10.1186/gb-2008-9-5-r77 |
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