Splitgill Mushroom

Appearance

"Schizophyllum commune" is usually described as a morphological species of global distribution, but some research has suggested that it may be a species complex encompassing several cryptic species of more narrow distribution, as typical of many mushroom-forming Basidiomycota.

The caps are 1–4 centimetres wide with white or grayish hairs. They grow in shelf-like arrangements, without stalks. The gills, which produce basidiospores on their surface, split when the mushroom dries out, earning this mushroom the common name split gill. It is common in rotting wood. The mushrooms can remain dry for decades and then revived with moisture.

It has a tetrapolar mating system with each cell containing two mating-type loci that govern different aspects the mating process, leading to 4 possible phenotypes after cell fusion. Each locus codes for a mating type " and each type is multi-allelic: the A locus has 9 alleles for the "a" type and an estimated 32 for its "b" type, and the B locus has 9 alleles each for both its "a" and "b" types. When combined this gives an estimated 9 \times 32 \times 9 \times 9 = 23328 potential mating type specificities, each of which can mate with \times = 22960 other mating types.

While all mating types can initially fuse with any other mating type, a fertile fruitbody and subsequent spores will result only if both the A and B loci of the merging cells are compatible. If neither the A nor B are compatible the result is normal monokarytic mycelium, and if only one of A or B are compatible, the result is either two mycelia growing in opposite directions or a "flat" phenotype with no mycelia.

Hydrophobin was first isolated from "Schizophyllum commune".

Naming

"Schizophyllum" is derived from [the Greek] "Schíza" meaning split because of the appearance of radial, centrally split, gill like folds; "commune" means common or shared ownership or ubiquitous.