There's more to a mushroom than meets the eye: Mating studies in the Agaricales

Abstract

Mating studies and related research are used in discussions of the following subjects: 1) long-distance mating phenomena, including strain-specific ability to dikaryotize mates; 2) the “biological species concept;” 3) clamp connection suppression in certain long-distance dikaryotization; 4) discrepancies between in vivo and in vitro mating behavior; 5) independent evolutionary rates of various characters; 6) occurrence and retention of amphithallism; and 7) the role of asexual propagule production in the mushroom life-cycle. Examples are drawn from several genera of Agaricales.

Key Words:

• Agaricales
• amphithallism
• biogeography
• mating systems
• species concepts