A model for hyphal growth and branching.

A mathematical model for hyphal growth and branching is described which relates cytological events within hyphae to mycelial growth kinetics. Essentially the model quantifies qualitative theories of hyphal growth in which it is proposed that vesicles containing wall precursors and/or enzymes required for wall synthesis are generated at a constant rate throughout a mycelium and travel to the tips of hyphae where they fuse with the plasma membrane, liberating their contents into the wall and increasing the surface area of the hypha to give elongation. The hypothesis that there is a duplication cycle in hyphae which is equivalent to the cell cycle observed in unicellular micro-organisms is also included in the model. Predictions from the model are compared with experimentally observed growth kinetics of mycelia of Geotrichum candidum and Aspergillus nidulans. The finite difference model which was constructed is capable of predicting changes in hyphal length and in the number and positions of branches and septa on the basis of changes in vesicle and nuclear concentration. Predictions were obtained using the model which were in good agreement with experimentally observed data.