Adding to these, the newly discovered Eoscyphella lineage, represented by Eoscyphella luciurceolata from the Atlantic Rainforest in southern Brazil, marks a significant expansion in our understanding of fungal bioluminescence.[6]
Although the biochemistry of fungal bioluminescence has not fully been characterized, the preparation of bioluminescent, cell-free extracts has allowed researchers to characterize the in vitro requirements of fungal bioluminescence. Experimental data suggest that a two-stage mechanism is required. In the first, a light-emitting substance (called "luciferin") is reduced by a soluble reductase enzyme at the expense of NAD(P)H. In the second stage, reduced luciferin is oxidized by an insoluble luciferase that releases the energy in the form of bluish-green light. Conditions that affect the growth of fungi, such as pH, light and temperature, have been found to influence bioluminescence, suggesting a link between metabolic activity and fungal bioluminescence.[9]
All bioluminescent fungi share the same enzymatic mechanism, suggesting that there is a bioluminescent pathway that arose early in the evolution of the mushroom-forming Agaricales.[4] All known luminescent species are white rot fungi capable of breaking down lignin, found in abundance in wood. Bioluminescence is an oxygen-dependent metabolic process and therefore may provide antioxidant protection against the potentially damaging effects of reactive oxygen species produced during wood decay.
The physiological and ecological function of fungal bioluminescence has not been established with certainty. It has been suggested that in the dark beneath closed tropical forest canopies, bioluminescent fruit bodies may be at an advantage by attracting grazing animals (including insects and other arthropods) that could help disperse their spores. Conversely, where mycelium (and vegetative structures like rhizomorphs and sclerotia) are the bioluminescent tissues, the argument has been made that light emission could deter grazing.[9]
The following list of bioluminescent mushrooms is based on a 2008 literature survey by Dennis Desjardin and colleagues,[10] in addition to accounts of several new species published since then.[11][12][13][14]
Species
Key
Binomial
The binomial name of the fungal species, including the author citation—the person who first described the species using an available scientific name, using standardized abbreviations.
Luminescence
Indicates which form of the fungus—mycelium or fruit body—produces luminescence.
Distribution
The geographical distribution of the species. AF = Africa; AS = Asia; AU = Australasia; CA = Central America and the Caribbean; EU = Europe; NA = North America; SA = South America.
References
Literature sources where bioluminescence was reported.
^Apparently it is the same species as given in Index Fungorum with a current name as Dictyopanus foliicola Kobayasi.[26]
^This species is given in Audrey et al. (2015) as Filoboletus manipularis and in Corner (1954) as Mycena manipularis var. microporus, but Index Fungorum indicates that Favolaschia manipularis is the current name.[29]
^This species is given in Kobayasi (1951) as Poromycena hanedae (as ′hanedai′) but Index Fungorum indicates that Filoboletus hanedae (as ′hanedai′) is the current name.[33]
^This species is presumably given in Corner (1994) as Mycena Noctilucens var. magnispora but Index Fungorum indicates that Mycena Noctilucens is the current name.
^This species is given in Corner (1954) and presumably in Corner (1994) as Mycena pruinoso-viscida and Mycena pruinoso-viscida var. rabaulensis but Index Fungorum indicates that Mycena pruinosoviscida is the current name.[58]
^This species is given in Corner (1981) as Pleurotus eugrammus var. radicicolus, but Index Fungorum indicates that Nothopanus eugrammus is the current name.[63]
^This species is given in Zang (1979) as Lampteromyces luminescens, but Index Fungorum indicates that Omphalotus japonicus is the current name.[67]
^This species is given in Corner (1954) as Dictyopanus pusillus var. sublamellatus and in Kobayasi (1963), Corner (1954), Corner (1986) as Panellus gloeocystidiatus but Index Fungorum indicates that Panellus pusillus is the current name.[78]
^This species is given in Corner (1994), Corner (1950), Horak (1978) as Mycena lamprospora, but Index Fungorum indicates that Roridomyces lamprosporus is the current name.[83]
^This species is given in Desjardin et al. (2008) as Mycena rorida, but both Index Fungorum and MycoBank indicate that Roridomyces roridus is the current name.[84][85]
^ abXylaria hypoxylon is indeed identified as bioluminescent in some sources; the light is said to be extremely faint, however.[3][wb 1]
^Stevani, C. V., Zamuner, C. K., Bastos, E. L., de Nóbrega, B. B., Soares, D. M. M., Oliveira, A. G., Bechara, E. J. H., Shakhova, E. S., Sarkisyan, K. S., Yampolsky, I. V., & Kaskova, Z. M. (2024). The living light from fungi. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology C: Photochemistry Reviews, 58, 100654.
^Vydryakova GA, Psurtseva NV, Belova NV, Pashenova NV, Gitelson JI (2009). "Luminous mushrooms and prospects of their use". Mikologiya i Fitopatologiya (in Russian). 43 (5): 369–376. ISSN0026-3648.
^ abCapelari M, Desjardin DE, Perry BA, Asai T, Stevani CV (2011). "Neonothopanus gardneri: a new combination for a bioluminescent agaric from Brazil". Mycologia. 103 (6): 1433–1440. doi:10.3852/11-097. PMID21700638. S2CID1333393.
^ abShih Y-S, Chen C-Y, Lin W-W, Kao H-W (2013). "Mycena kentingensis, a new species of luminous mushroom in Taiwan, with reference to its culture method". Mycological Progress. 13 (2): 429–435. doi:10.1007/s11557-013-0939-x. S2CID52873712.
^ abcdeWassink EC (1948). "Observations on the luminescence in fungi, I, including a critical review of the species mentioned as luminescent in literature". Recueil des Travaux Botaniques Néerlandais. 41: 150–212.
^Vydryakova GA, Psurtseva NV, Belova NV, Gusev AA, Pashenova NV, Medvedeva SE, Rodicheva EK, Gitelson JI (2008). "Luminous mushrooms". In Shen X, Yang X, Zhang X (eds.). Bioluminescence and chemiluminescence - light emission: Biology and scientific applications - proceedings of the 15th international symposium. World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd. pp. 79–82. ISBN978-981-283-958-9.
^ abcdKobayasi Y. (1951). "Contributions to the luminous fungi from Japan". Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory. 5: 1–6.
^ abKobayasi Y. (1963). "Revision of the genus Dictyopanus with special references to the Japanese species". Bulletin of the National Science Museum, Tokyo. 6: 359–364.
^ abcdefghijAudrey LCC, Desjardin DE, Tan Y-S, Musa Md Y, Sabaratnam V (2015). "Bioluminescent fungi from Peninsular Malaysia—a taxonomic and phylogenetic overview". Fungal Diversity. 70 (1): 149–187. doi:10.1007/s13225-014-0302-9. S2CID43792032.
^ abLiu P-G, Yang Z-L (1994). "Studies of classification and geographic distribution of Laschia-complex from the Southern and Southeastern Yunnan, China". Acta Botanica Yunnanica (in Chinese). 16 (1): 47–52.
^ abcChew AL, Tan Y-S, Desjardin DE, Musa MY, Sabaratnam V (2014). "Four new bioluminescent taxa of Mycena sect. Calodontes from Peninsular Malaysia". Mycologia. 106 (5): 976–988. doi:10.3852/13-274. PMID24891424. S2CID207706192.
^Buller AHR (1934). "Omphalia flavida, a gemmiferous and luminous leaf-spot fungus". Researches on Fungi. Vol. 4. London; New York; Toronto: Longmans, Green and Company. pp. 397–454.
^ abcdefgBothe F. (1931). "Über das Leuchten verwesender Blätter und seine Erreger" [About the glow of decaying leaves and their agents]. Zeitschrift für Wissenschafteliche Biologie Abteilung A (in German). 14 (3/4): 752–765. Bibcode:1931Plant..14..752B. doi:10.1007/bf01917160. S2CID37761114.
^ abcdefCortés-Pérez, Alonso; Desjardin, Dennis E.; Perry, Brian A.; Ramírez-Cruz, Virginia; Ramírez-Guillén, Florencia; Villalobos-Arámbula, Alma R.; Rockefeller, Alan (2019-03-04). "New species and records of bioluminescent Mycena from Mexico". Mycologia. 111 (2): 319–338. doi:10.1080/00275514.2018.1554172. ISSN0027-5514. PMID30908110. S2CID85514567.
^Haneda Y. (1939). "A few observations on the luminous fungi of Micronesia". Kagaku Nanyo [South Sea Science] (in Japanese). 1 (3): 116–128.
^ abcdCorner EJH (1994). Agarics in Malaysia. I. Tricholomatoid, II. Mycenoid. Beihefte zur Nova Hedwigia. Vol. 109. pp. 1–271. ISBN978-3-443-51031-2.
^ abcChang, Chiung-Chih; Chen, Chi-Yu; Lin, Wen-Wen; Kao, Hsiao-Wei (2020). "Mycena jingyinga, Mycena luguensis, and Mycena venus: three new species of bioluminescent fungi from Taiwan". Taiwania. 65 (3): 396–406. doi:10.6165/tai.2020.65.396.
^Takahashi; et al. (2016). The Agaric flora in Southwestern Japan. p. 209.
^Bothe F. (1930). "Ein neuer einheimischer Leuchtpilz, Mycena tintinnabulum" [A new local luminous mushroom, Mycena tintinnabulum]. Berichte der Deutschen Botanischen Gesellschaft (in German). 48: 394–399. doi:10.1111/j.1438-8677.1930.tb00660.x. S2CID257823350.
^Saccardo PA (1887). "Sylloge Hymenomycetum, Vol. I. Agaricineae". Sylloge Fungorum (in Latin). 5: 1–1146.
^ abcCorner EJH (1981). The agaric genera Lentinus, Panus, and Pleurotus, with particular reference to Malaysian species. Vaduz, Germany: J. Cramer. ISBN978-3-7682-5469-4.
^Léveillé JH (1844). "Champignons exotiques". Annales des Sciences Naturelles Botanique. Série 3 (in French). 2: 167–221.
^ abHaneda Y. (1955). "Luminous organisms of Japan and the Far East". In Johnson FH (ed.). The Luminescence of Biological Systems. Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science. pp. 335–385.
^Zang M. (1979). "Some new species of higher fungi from Xizang (Tibet) of China". Acta Botanica Yunnanica. 1 (2): 101–105.
^Li J, Hu X (1993). "A new species of Lampteromyces from Hunan". Acta Scientiarum Naturalium Universitatis Normalis Hunanensis (in Chinese). 16 (2): 188–189.
^Berkeley MJ (1844). "Decades of fungi". London Journal of Botany. 3: 329–337.
^Miller Jr OK. (1994). "Observations on the genus Omphalotus in Australia". Mycologia Helvetica. 6: 91–100.
^ abDAUNER, LUCAS A.P.; KARUNARATHNA, SAMANTHA C.; TIBPROMMA, SAOWALUCK; XU, JIANCHU; MORTIMER, PETER E. (2021-02-26). "Bioluminescent fungus Roridomyces viridiluminus sp. nov. and the first Chinese record of the genus Roridomyces, from Southwestern China". Phytotaxa. 487 (3): 233–250. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.487.3.4. ISSN1179-3163. S2CID233926829.