A Cytological Study of Spore Germination of Volvariella volvacea

Abstract

Volvariella volvacea is a tetrasporous fungus of the tropics and subtropics and belongs to the family Amanitaceae of the Basidiomycetes. It has two kinds of spores, one being the sexual basidiospore and the other the asexual chlamydospore. The spores were collected on a permeable cellophane membrane overlying the complete semisolid medium and incubated at 40°for 24-48hours and at 35°for 24hours for germination of basidiospores and chlamydospores, respectively. The uninuclear basidiospores and the multinuclear chlamydospores are observed and discussed. Non-septal uninucleate, binucleate, and multinucleate germ tubes and septal multinucleate as well as branched germ tubes are also described. Conventional mitotic figures and simple septa as well as suspected dolipore septa are observed in the germ tubes. Special attention was given to the nuclear translocation by migration through the septa. The primary results indicate that this mushroom may be a homothallic fungus.