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How does fungal reproduction by fragmentation work?
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fungus
A pair of panther cap mushrooms (Amanita pantherina). Closely related to the death cap mushroom (Amanita phalloides), the panther cap is highly poisonous.
Reproduction by fragmentation is one of the simplest methods of asexual reproduction in fungi. In this process, the thallusāthe body of the fungusābreaks apart into several segments.1
In filamentous fungi, the mycelium may divide into a number of distinct segments, each of which possesses the biological capability to grow into a new, independent fungal individual. This method is distinct from the formation of spores, which are also commonly produced by the fragmentation of the mycelium but function as specialized reproductive units rather than vegetative body segments. In laboratory settings, this process is utilized for propagation by inoculating solid nutrient agar with these mycelial fragments.123