Mushrooms are experts in forming "trade networks," as researchers have discovered.

As is well known, around 70% of all plants have mycorrhizal fungi that assist in extracting minerals from the soil, receiving fats and sugars in return. However, a closer look reveals that these fungi also create a very complex and highly efficient transportation network.

A new study was published in the journal Nature on February 26. Scientists developed a robotic system to closely monitor 500,000 nodes of the fungal network and found that it performs quite well in a number of complex tasks.

The authors of the study discovered that fungi generate so-called "traveling waves" that find an optimal compromise between the efficiency of transporting nutrients and minimizing growth costs.

It is known that fungi are heterotrophic organisms—meaning, like animals, they obtain nutrients from external sources rather than producing them themselves (as plants do). However, they lack specialized organs for food intake; instead, they absorb nutrients through the surface of their filaments, known as "hyphae." These substances are then transported to other parts of the fungus via the cytoplasmic fluid.

Since soil under normal conditions does not experience significant movement, sooner or later, nutrients in one area become depleted, forcing the leading hyphae to move on, conquering new frontiers.

The scientists observed the principle of this movement. They noticed that the leading hyphae spread out in search of nutrients while the threads behind them interconnected to form networks. It turned out that the fungi's growth strategy is optimally balanced—they do not build dense networks to avoid wasting excess carbon and thicken in areas through which large volumes of cytoplasm flow.

The researchers found that the hyphae have a structure resembling pipelines for resource transfer. The cytoplasm moves through these "pipelines" at varying speeds depending on the importance of the area. In some locations, nutrients can flow in both directions simultaneously to support the growing hyphae and transport extracted minerals to plant roots.

Interestingly, the scientists concluded that the routing principle among fungi is dictated by the long-term benefits of "trading" with their plant partners. Otherwise, they would simply focus on nutrients in one specific area and then migrate to other locations.

"People increasingly rely on AI algorithms to create efficient and sustainable supply chains. However, mycorrhizal fungi have been solving these problems for over 450 million years," said co-author Toby Kiers.

Moreover, fungi not only create an efficient network but also constantly restructure it to maintain its effectiveness.

"We found that these fungi continuously adapt their trading routes by adding loops to shorten distances, thereby effectively delivering nutrients to plant roots," added co-author Thomas Shimizu.

The authors believe that further research could assist humanity in building more efficient infrastructure and transportation networks. Additionally, this could inspire the search for new machine learning algorithms to create more effective AI models.

It is known that similar networks on our planet are formed not only by fungi but also by slime molds. These remarkable organisms have already aided engineers, but now there are plans to use them for modeling cosmic webs.