Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Bioluminescence
Mains level: Eastern Himalayas and its biodiversity
A mushroom documentation project in the forests of Northeast India has discovered a bioluminescent — or light-emitting — variety of mushroom.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Lichens, which are capable of initiating ecological succession even on a bare rock, are actually a symbiotic association of:
(a) Algae and bacteria
(b) Algae and fungi
(c) Bacteria and fungi
(d) Fungi and mosses
Roridomyces phyllostachydis
- The new species was first sighted near a stream in Meghalaya’s Mawlynnong in East Khasi Hills district and later at Krang Shuri in West Jaintia Hills district.
- It is now one among the 97 known species of bioluminescent fungi in the world.
Bioluminescence in fungi
- Bioluminescence is the property of a living organism to produce and emit light.
- Bioluminescent organisms are usually found in ocean environments, but they are also found in terrestrial environments.
- The colour of the light emitted by the organism depends on its chemical properties.
- In the case of fungi, the luminescence comes from the enzyme, luciferase.
- The green light emits when luciferans is catalysed by the enzyme luciferase, in the presence of oxygen.
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