You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
RE: Mushrooms can have 4,000+ different sexes
Great info. I definitely did not know about the 4,000 + sex types. You explained the geneological nature but I am wondering the evolutionary reason behind having so many different sexes. I know that mycelium network is very advanced because of it's decentralized and redundant nature. If one area of the network is broken by an animal then there are other paths. Maybe the same logic somehow applies with the sex types?
I guess I explained how the got so many mating types without even touching the reason why. And to be honest I have not really read anything about why they have this complex system. However, my first thought would be that they do not use the sex in a strict way like we do. For them it does not matter which mating type they create an offspring with, and that the mating types instead act as a regulator to prevent it from mating with the exact same type (so it will not fertilize another part of itself).
Ah ok like sex differentiation for the sake of variety and plurality amongst the species.