Hypha

It usually begins with airborne spores, which attach to the outer shell of the insect's abdomen, called the external integument.

Hyphae then grow filamentously through the shell, dissolving it and using various enzymes including chitinases and specialized structures called appressoria to penetrate the shell.

Once within the primary body cavity, called the hemicoel, the hyphae colonize the tissue, switching to a yeast-like structure by growing as a cluster of independent, free-flowing yeast-like cells called blastospores that use a mitotic budding strategy to multiply.

This increases the fungus's speed of propagation, as well as helping bypass the host's immune response.

Yes.

Beneath the visible mold, microscopic thread-like filaments called hyphae begin to spread through the damp wood.

Hyphae.

Right?

Yeah.

Unlike bacteria, yeasts are eukaryotic, so they do not gram stain reliably, which is an important distinction in the laboratory when differentiating fungal cells from bacterial cells.

Hyphae, on the other hand, look like long threads.

Bread mold is a great example.

They appear fuzzy because they grow in long filaments.

Hyphae can be septate, where the filaments are segmented, or non-septate, which is one long filament.

Collectively, filaments form a mycelium, which maximizes surface area for nutrient absorption by the organism.

Fungi are heterotrophs, just like humans.

It has been interesting, you know, right now we have the third generation coming into the business.

We have three children and they have all three started working at Hyphal in the last two years.

And it's been really good for us too as a reminder that as they've gone out and started doing things, you know, learning that not everybody does know the story of the company and not everybody, you know, is aware that, oh, this was, is a family business and that these are the people that actually invented high float.

This was their idea.

The fungal threads I'd glimpsed earlier proved, under the microscope, to be neither ordinary mycorrhiza nor any known pest.

Hyphae branched in asymmetrical, almost spiraling formations, reminiscent of neurological tissue diagrams.

I found traces of a faint chemical signature, a methylated compound used in high-level lab research, a proprietary tag, engineered.

Somewhere near I heard laughter, jagged, forced from a group of three workers.