Nutrition

Courtesy of Tom Volk

Morel mushrooms are heterotrophic which means they are "other feeding" and must feed on preformed organic material. It does this by first building a mutualistic relationship with a host such as an ash or elm tree. To form this relationship, the morel's mycorrhizae (which means fungus root) and creates an ectomycorrhizae sheath around the tree's root. This sheath has hyphae emanating throughout the soil which increases the surface area. Once the sheath is made, the fungus is able to penetrate between the cells of of the cortex to allow for nutrients to be exchanged. In order for the morel to have nutrients, it must digest then ingest the area it is around. This is made possible by exoenzymes which help rapidly digest the material in order to take the nutrients out of it. The reason this allows for a mutualistic relationship is because both the tree and the fungi gain nutrients from this process.

Courtesy of Tom VolkMorels are non-vascular which means they have no specialized tissues to transport the nutrients they ingest. To move the nutrients throughout the organisms, the hypae contain internal crosswalls called septa. These septa have pores which allow cytoplasm to flow from one cell to the next. This movement allows materials to be transported within the cytoplasm of the cells. When times are "good" and the morel can store food, it stores it as glycogen like many other animals.



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