Two different types of rhizomorphs were produced by A. luteobubalina in vitro conditions - aerial and submerged. They differed in growth rate, amount of mucilage, extent of peripheral hyphae, degree of pigmentation and in the structure of inner cortex. Otherwise they had a similar internal structure comprising 4 radial zones, namely, peripheral hyphae, outer cortex, inner cortex and medulla. Two membrane permeant symplastic fluorescent tracers, carboxy-DFFDA and CMAC which ultimately sequestered in vacuoles, behaved in a similar fashion in aerial and submerged rhizomorphs regardless of whether pigment was present in the outer cortical cell walls or in the extracellular material. Rhizomorphs appeared to be mostly impermeable to these probes with exception of a few fluorescent patches that potentially connected peripheral hyphae to inner cortical cells. In contrast, the apoplastic tracer HPTS which was applied to fresh material and its localisation determined in semi-thin (dry) sections following anhydrous freeze substitution appeared to be impeded by the pigmentation in cell walls and/or the extracellular material in the outer cortical zone. Structures identified as air pores arose directly from the mycelium and grew upwards into the air. A cluster of rhizomorph apices is initiated immediately beneath the air pores. As air pores elongated they differentiated into a cylindrical structure. Mature air pores became pigmented as did also the surface mycelium of the colony. The pigmented surface layer extended into the base of air pores, where it was elevated into a mound by tissue inside the base of the air pore. Beneath the pigmented surface layer there was a region of loose hyphae with extensive gas space between them. This gas space extended into the base of the air pore and was continuous with the central gas canal of rhizomorphs. Oxygen is conducted through the air pores and their associated rhizomorph gas canals into the oxygen electrode chamber with a conductivity averaging 679??68x10-12 m3s-1. The time averaged oxygen concentration data from the oxygen electrode chamber were used to compare three different air pore diffusion models. It was found that the widely used pseudo-steady-state model overestimated the oxygen conductivity. Finally, a model developed on the basis of fundamental transport equations was used to calculate oxygen diffusivities. This model gave a better comparison with the experimental data.

Two different types of rhizomorphs were produced by A. luteobubalina in vitro conditions - aerial and submerged. They differed in growth rate, amount of mucilage, extent of peripheral hyphae, degree of pigmentation and in the structure of inner cortex. Otherwise they had a similar internal structure comprising 4 radial zones, namely, peripheral hyphae, outer cortex, inner cortex and medulla. Two membrane permeant symplastic fluorescent tracers, carboxy-DFFDA and CMAC which ultimately sequestered in vacuoles, behaved in a similar fashion in aerial and submerged rhizomorphs regardless of whether pigment was present in the outer cortical cell walls or in the extracellular material. Rhizomorphs appeared to be mostly impermeable to these probes with exception of a few fluorescent patches that potentially connected peripheral hyphae to inner cortical cells. In contrast, the apoplastic tracer HPTS which was applied to fresh material and its localisation determined in semi-thin (dry) sections following anhydrous freeze substitution appeared to be impeded by the pigmentation in cell walls and/or the extracellular material in the outer cortical zone. Structures identified as air pores arose directly from the mycelium and grew upwards into the air. A cluster of rhizomorph apices is initiated immediately beneath the air pores. As air pores elongated they differentiated into a cylindrical structure. Mature air pores became pigmented as did also the surface mycelium of the colony. The pigmented surface layer extended into the base of air pores, where it was elevated into a mound by tissue inside the base of the air pore. Beneath the pigmented surface layer there was a region of loose hyphae with extensive gas space between them. This gas space extended into the base of the air pore and was continuous with the central gas canal of rhizomorphs. Oxygen is conducted through the air pores and their associated rhizomorph gas canals into the oxygen electrode chamber with a conductivity averaging 679??68x10-12 m3s-1. The time averaged oxygen concentration data from the oxygen electrode chamber were used to compare three different air pore diffusion models. It was found that the widely used pseudo-steady-state model overestimated the oxygen conductivity. Finally, a model developed on the basis of fundamental transport equations was used to calculate oxygen diffusivities. This model gave a better comparison with the experimental data.