Dikaryon (dicaryon) A fungal hypha or mycelium whose cells each contain two different nuclei, arising from the fusion of two compatible cells, each with one nucleus.
Reproduction in lichens may be asexual by soredia (algal cells enclosed by fungal hyphae) or by sexual fungal spores, which can survive only if some algal cells are also present.
A handful of soil has several thousands worm individuals and other kinds of creatures and thousands and millions of bacteria and kilometers of fungal hyphae.
The researchers who conducted this study knew that soil fungi whose hyphae are symbiotic with tomatoes (providing them with minerals in exchange for food) also form a network connecting one plant to another.
Then, four days from the end, one of the 40-micron meshes in each mesocosm was rotated to sever any hyphae that had penetrated it, and the central plant was then infested with aphids.