Split-gill mushrooms – fungi with thousands of sexes

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Some people might have a hard time understanding the difference between sex and gender. Some people might be put off by it. But imagine if humans were like split-gill mushrooms, things would get a lot more complicated… and weirder. Maybe.

How many?!

This fungus (aka Chizophyllum Commune) gets its name from its appearance when dried. It can often be found on rotting wood. It sounds like something you’d find in a supermarket or fancy French cuisine, but these little guys can really make people sick.

What makes it truly unique is that it has over 23,000 different sexes, or “mating types.”

Non-human sexual behavior

You might be imagining different kinds of penises and vaginas (or something out of a sci-fi movie), but in the case of fungi, it’s not about the physical structure, it’s about the genome.

Here is a detailed analysis…

• The genome is located in two different Locusor positions (called A and B)
• Each locus has two Alleleor other forms (called alpha and beta)
• Each A-alpha/beta and B-alpha/beta has many different variants, called Specificity
• These combinations add up to thousands of possible genders
• As long as A and B have at least one difference, they can mate with any specificity.

We won’t go into detail about how they make the little mushroom babies – mostly because it’s too complicated. But the gist is still interesting.

No candlelit dinners or foreplay.

They just bump into each other and parts of their cells fuse together (slit gills use “clamps”). Since they are highly sexually diverse, the chances of them being compatible are extremely high.

Imagine you are walking down the street and you bump into someone with a different hair color than you… and bam! Now you have a baby… literally.

I bet you’ll look at dating and romance apps in a completely different light from now on.

Have any interesting thoughts or insights? Know something fun about the animal kingdom and sex? Share it in the comments!