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Edit: End of last month April

Zhejiang continues to experience plum rains

A blogger was surprised to find

A rotten apple that was forgotten to be thrown away

White mushrooms actually grew

Then he posted the photo on social media

For a while#About an apple growing mushrooms#

Topped the hot lists on major platforms

The comments section joked

This isTrue "Fruit Fungus King"

This topic also raised

Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences

PhD candidate Xu Rongjus concern

He asked the blogger to buy this apple for research

then

The blogger gave the apple to Dr. Xu

This "fruit fungus king"

I embarked on a magical scientific research journey

The Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences is an important comprehensive research institution in the fields of botany and plant chemistry in my country. Dr. Xu's fungal diversity and molecular evolution research group is mainly engaged in research on fungal germplasm resources and space breeding.

Dr. Xu introduced that this fungus on apples is calledSchizophyllum (white ginseng) is a famous edible fungus widely distributed around the worldIt generally grows on rotten wood and also exists as a plant pathogen. It has previously appeared on peaches, persimmons, and coconut shells. This is the first time I have seen it on apples. This strain can grow so strongly with very little substrate, which can provide a reference for the selection and breeding of white ginseng strains.

What happens when an apple is cut open? Source: Dr. Xu

Schizophyllum is a wood-decomposing fungus. It likes to grow in places like rotten wood, wooden handrails in parks, and wooden floors, but it is not common to see it growing on fresh fruits. Dr. Xu said that he had seen Schizophyllum growing on fruits such as peaches and persimmons, but he had never seen it growing on apples in China. In 1970, a foreign scholar conducted an experiment in which he inoculated Schizophyllum hyphae into apples and successfully grew fruiting bodies.

Dr. Xu's supervisor, Zhao Qi, a professor-level engineer at the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that there are two explanations for the white ginseng growing on this apple. One is that there is a wound on the fruit stalk, and the white ginseng spores infect the fruit stalk and spread to the core. If the temperature and humidity are suitable, the fruiting body can grow from the top of the apple; the other is that the spores first infect the apple tree and spread to the fruit. He believes that the first possibility is more likely. White ginseng is suitable for growing in an environment with a temperature of 5-30℃ and a relative humidity of more than 70%. June is the rainy season in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which provides a good growth environment.

Shen 12-White Ginseng Source: Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Zhao Qi also added,my country once sent white ginseng mycelium cultivated on the ground into spaceBecause white ginseng is very tough and difficult to chew in the wild, it is sent into space to cultivate fungi with fewer spores and a crisper taste.

Many netizens asked: "Does this apple taste like mushrooms?"

Dr. Xu also responded to this question from netizens on the social platform.He said, "I just took a bite and it didn't taste anything special."He believes that it is unlikely to grow white ginseng with an apple flavor. Its special flavor mainly comes from its own amino acids and some special chemicals, so even if it grows from apple pulp, the flavor of white ginseng is unlikely to be affected by apples.

Growth of white ginseng mycelium isolated from different parts of apple