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  • Review Article
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How does a hypha grow? The biophysics of pressurized growth in fungi

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 9, pages 509–518 (2011)Cite this article

Subjects

Key Points

  • Turgor (hydrostatic pressure within the cell) is a major driving force for cell expansion in fungi and in other walled cells. It is created by the accumulation of solutes inside the cell.

  • The thermodynamics of pressure, cell volume and solute uptake are complicated by the dynamic process of cell expansion; all three parameters must change in a coordinated fashion in order to create a steady-state equilibrium that maintains the driving forces required for continued growth, including water uptake. The rate of growth is controlled by changes in cell wall extensibility.

  • Tip-localized Ca2+ gradients play a part inside the cell during cell expansion.

  • The maintenance of turgor during growth relies on signal transduction pathways, and particularly on an osmotic mitogen-activated protein kinase cascade that regulates the accumulation of solutes (including ion uptake from the external medium).

  • Pressure gradients within the cell also have a role during cell growth, by moving cytoplasm towards the growing tip. Essentially, mass flow operates in a microfluidics environment that encompasses the mycelial network. This is separate from the intracellular transport that is mediated by the cytoskeleton and molecular motors. The rate of cytoplasmic flow depends on pressure gradients that are small in magnitude but affect flow over relatively long distances.

  • External ionic currents that extend over long distances are a manifestation of the macroscale polar aspects of fungal growth, and they point to coordinated contributions from the mycelial network behind the growing colony edge. They may play a part in the creation of the trans-hyphal pressure gradients that are responsible for cytoplasmic migration to the colony edge.

Abstract

The mechanisms underlying the growth of fungal hyphae are rooted in the physical property of cell pressure. Internal hydrostatic pressure (turgor) is one of the major forces driving the localized expansion at the hyphal tip which causes the characteristic filamentous shape of the hypha. Calcium gradients regulate tip growth, and secretory vesicles that contribute to this process are actively transported to the growing tip by molecular motors that move along cytoskeletal structures. Turgor is controlled by an osmotic mitogen-activated protein kinase cascade that causes de novo synthesis of osmolytes and uptake of ions from the external medium. However, as discussed in this Review, turgor and pressure have additional roles in hyphal growth, such as causing the mass flow of cytoplasm from the basal mycelial network towards the expanding hyphal tips at the colony edge.

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Figure 1: Architecture of a fungal colony.
Figure 2: Pressure, volume, water flow and hyphal growth.
Figure 3: Pressure, volume and its regulation.
Figure 4: Turgor recovery mechanisms in Neurospora crassa.
Figure 5: Mass flow of the hyphal cytoplasm.
Figure 6: Model of the polar distribution of transport in a mycelial colony.

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks past and present members of the Lew laboratory, where research is funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

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  1. Department of Biology, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, M3J 1P3, Ontario, Canada

    Roger R. Lew

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Glossary

Aquaporins

Protein channels that transport water across cell membranes.

Oomycete

A hyphal microorganism that is morphologically similar to fungi but belongs to the phylogentically distinct stramenopiles group.

Characeae

A family of freshwater algae, within the kingdom Plantae. Members of this family form large macroscopic filaments.

Pectin

A carbohydrate polymer (a polysaccharide) that is part of the cell wall in walled cells of many organisms, such as algae and plants; pectin crosslinks can play a part in controlling wall strength and extensibility.

SNARE

(Soluble NSF (N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor) attachment protein (SNAP) receptor). A family of receptors that are involved in membrane fusion in animal cells.

Woronin bodies

Proteinaceous granules that are located at septal pores and can seal the pores in response to cell damage.

Kinesin

A molecular motor that normally moves towards the plus end of microtubules, energized by ATP hydrolysis.

Heterokaryon

A hypha that contains multiple nuclei which are genetically distinct.

Spitzenkörper

An organized assembly of secretory vesicles located at the tip of the growing hypha.

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Lew, R. How does a hypha grow? The biophysics of pressurized growth in fungi. Nat Rev Microbiol 9, 509–518 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2591

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