Neighbour-sensing model

The position of origin of a branch and its direction and rate of growth are the main formative events in the development of fungal tissues and organs.

This combination of parameters leads to the development of hollow conical structures, similar to the fruit bodies of some primitive fungi.

In this way, it is possible to observe the spontaneous orientation of growing hypha in a single direction, which simulates the strands, cords and rhizomorphs produced by many species of fungi in nature.

This allows a greater variety of structures to be formed (including mushroom-like shapes) and may be supposed to simulate cases where the growth strategy depends on an internal biological clock.

The neighbour-sensing model explains how various fungal structures may arise because of the ‘crowd behaviour’ (convergence) of the community of hyphal tips that make up the mycelium.