{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]],"date-time":"2026-08-12T00:30:47Z","timestamp":1786494647056,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"The Royal Society","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]],"date-time":"2026-08-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786492800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001725","name":"Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001725","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004359","name":"Swedish Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2024-04092"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024-04092"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004359","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Despite the long-term fascination of fairy ring-forming fungi, many aspects of their biology remain unresolved. It is not known why the mycelium grows as an annular structure, rather than a solid disc, or why it grows radially outwards. Different theories have been suggested, but none have been tested experimentally with molecular resolution. Here, we undertook a metagenomic approach to study the growth dynamics of the fairy ring-forming fungus Marasmius oreades. We confirmed that M. oreades grows as an open ring by detecting its DNA in metagenomes of soil collected along transects from two fairy rings. We showed that the mycelia forming rings are dikaryotic by identifying two mating-type alleles and showing genome-wide heterozygosity. We tested five hypotheses for the mechanism of radial outgrowth using transplantation experiments. The results were most consistent with a transient-escape hypothesis, and suggest that the mycelium avoids inhibitory factors present at the back edge of the mycelial growth front. Our study demonstrates the power of metagenomics for studying fungi, showing that detailed genomic information can be recovered directly from soil. This approach enables the investigation of cryptic aspects of fungal biology, such as the growth of fairy ring-forming fungi, in natural settings that would otherwise remain hidden.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1098\/rsos.260575","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]],"date-time":"2026-08-12T00:16:12Z","timestamp":1786493772000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Spatial structure and growth dynamics of fairy rings formed by\n                    <i>Marasmius oreades<\/i>"],"prefix":"10.1098","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Boel","family":"Olsson","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University 1 , Stockholm, Sweden"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Markus H.","family":"Thor\u00e9n","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University 1 , Stockholm, Sweden"},{"name":"Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 2 , Stockholm, Sweden"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ove","family":"Eriksson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University 1 , Stockholm, Sweden"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6359-9856","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hanna","family":"Johannesson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University 1 , Stockholm, Sweden"},{"name":"Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 2 , Stockholm, Sweden"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"175","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026081120160521500_RSOS260575C1","volume-title":"Medical microbiology","author":"McGinnis","year":"1996","edition":"4th edn."},{"key":"2026081120160521500_RSOS260575C2","volume-title":"Strange but true: the largest organism on Earth is a fungus","author":"Casselman"},{"key":"2026081120160521500_RSOS260575C3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"R297","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cub.2018.01.026","volume":"28","author":"Sipos","year":"2018","journal-title":"Armillaria. Curr. Biol."},{"key":"2026081120160521500_RSOS260575C4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e138320","DOI":"10.3897\/imafungus.16.138320","article-title":"Fungal fairy rings: history, ecology, dynamics and engineering functions","volume":"16","author":"Zotti","year":"2025","journal-title":"IMA Fungus"},{"key":"2026081120160521500_RSOS260575C5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1368","DOI":"10.1038\/2101368b0","article-title":"Genetical homogeneity and the stability of the mating-type factors of \u2018fairy rings\u2019 of Marasmius oreades","volume":"210","author":"Burnett","year":"1966","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"2026081120160521500_RSOS260575C6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1111","DOI":"10.1139\/b88-159","article-title":"The mating system of the fairy ring fungus Marasmius oreades and the genetic relationship of fairy rings","volume":"66","author":"Mallett","year":"1988","journal-title":"Can. J. Bot."},{"key":"2026081120160521500_RSOS260575C7","first-page":"191","article-title":"Fungus fairy rings in eastern Colorado and their effects on vegetation","volume":"11","author":"Shantz","year":"1917","journal-title":"J. Agric. 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On fairy-rings","volume":"97","author":"Wollaston","year":"1807","journal-title":"Phil. Trans R. Soc."},{"key":"2026081120160521500_RSOS260575C13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e0149254","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0149254","article-title":"Spiral and rotor patterns produced by fairy ring fungi","volume":"11","author":"Karst","year":"2016","journal-title":"PLoS ONE"},{"key":"2026081120160521500_RSOS260575C14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"29","DOI":"10.1016\/0009-2509(83)80132-8","article-title":"Autocatalytic reactions in the isothermal, continuous stirred tank reactor: isolas and other forms of multistability","volume":"38","author":"Gray","year":"1983","journal-title":"Chem. Eng. Sci."},{"key":"2026081120160521500_RSOS260575C15","first-page":"509","volume-title":"The ecology and physiology of the fungal mycelium","author":"Rayner","year":"1984"},{"key":"2026081120160521500_RSOS260575C16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"699","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1469-8137.1989.tb02365.x","article-title":"Spatial dynamics and interactions of the woodland fairy ring fungus, Clitocybe nebularis","volume":"111","author":"Dowson","year":"1989","journal-title":"New Phytol."},{"key":"2026081120160521500_RSOS260575C17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"19918","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-023-46006-1","article-title":"Process based modelling of plants\u2013fungus interactions explains fairy ring types and dynamics","volume":"13","author":"Salvatori","year":"2023","journal-title":"Sci. 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The biophysics of pressurized growth in fungi","volume":"9","author":"Lew","year":"2011","journal-title":"Nat. Rev. Microbiol."},{"key":"2026081120160521500_RSOS260575C32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3939","DOI":"10.1007\/s00253-018-8897-5","article-title":"Predator-prey interactions of nematode-trapping fungi and nematodes: both sides of the coin","volume":"102","author":"Vidal-Diez de Ulzurrun","year":"2018","journal-title":"Appl. Microbiol. 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