what is mycelium exactly?
Mycelium is a network of fungal cells threaded together to form long, forking chains, creating a complex fabric of cells permeating virtually all land masses of Earth, from the tundra to the tropical rainforests. How is mycelium related to mushrooms? Mycelium is threadlike, but bundles up to form the structure of the mushroom, what we call the “fruiting body.” First the mycelium needs to dominate a territory, and only then does it pull its nutritional resources together to begin the construction of a mushroom. You’ve written a lot about mushrooms being used for bioremediation, or naturally breaking down toxic compounds in the water and soil. What are some of the ways that mushrooms have been used to clean up polluted sites? The mycelium of mushrooms are unique in their wood-decomposing enzymes, especially cellulases (which break down cellulose) and lignases (which break down lignin). Cellulose is the fibrous part of woody plants while lignin is the blocklike structure which the cellulo
