The long-term cultivation of Scizophyllum commune

The basidiomycete Schizophyllum commune has the highest level of genetic polymorphism known among living organisms. In a previous study, it was also found to have a moderately high per generation mutation rate, likely contributing to its high polymorphism. However, this rate has been measured only in an experiment on Petri dishes, and it is unclear how it translates to natural populations. Here, we used an experimental design that measures the rate of accumulation of de novo mutations in a linearly growing mycelium in order to study how somatic mutations accumulate during vegetative growth of the mycelium and how they contribute to the per generation mutation rate.