Fungi
100,000 species
Characteristics
• Eukaryote: with chitonous cell wall, no chloroplasts
• Reproduction
– Asexual – budding – in yeast cells
– Sexual – spores made inside of “fruiting bodies that are
produced on reproductive hyphae – most fungi
• Metabolism: respiration and fermentation
– Absorption of nutrients through mycelia
– Saprophytes (most fungi)
– Parasite (athlete’s foot, ringworm and Dutch elm)
• Environment: grow best in moist, warm
places
Phyla
• Basidiomycetes: club fungi - mushrooms,
bracken fungi, puffballs, (produce 4 spores in
sporangium)
• Ascomycetes: morel mushroom, cup mushroom
(produce 8 spores in sporangium)
• Oomycetes: water-borne fungi
• Deuteromycetes: athletes foot
Basidiomycetes
Also includes smut!
Smut!!!!!!!!!!!
Not pornographic material
Not what you think!
Corn smut
Giant puffballs
• Look carefully!
Inside of a puffball
Bracken fungus growing on dead tree
Bracken fungi on tree
Rust
“Killer” Mushrooms
Fairy rings
• Oops…. Wrong type!
Fairy Ring
A circular collection of
fruiting bodies
(mushrooms) that are
actually all connected
underground by one
mycelium mass
The larger the diameter,
the older the mycelium
Ascomycetes
• Cup/sac fungi
Orange Jelly fungus
Morel mushroom
Stachybotrys mould that is responsible for sick
building syndrome (leaky condo)
Oomycetes
• Most feed on dead aquatic materials
• Some species are saprophytes of dead plants
and animals
• One species is thought to be the cause of the
current worldwide die-off of frogs
• primitive, single-celled, colonial, or mycelial
fungi that appear to reproduce asexually most
of the time, only reproducing sexually in times
of dire need.
Zygomycetes
• Live on soil or dead and decaying plant or
animal matter
• Simplest reproductive cycle
• Asexual reproduction: produce spores in
sporangia
• Sexual reproduction: produce zygospores
Zygospore
Pilobolus kleinii
Hat Thrower
Yeast (in bread)
Black bread mold sporangia
Penicillin – (a direct descendant of the
fungus used by Dr. Fleming to make
the first antibiotic)
Deuteromycetes
• "fungi imperfecti" generally do not exhibit a
sexual reproductive function
Athlete’s foot and ringworm
Slime molds – no
longer considered
fungi, but protists
Other: NOT a phylum but a symbiotic
relationship: Lichen
Foliose lichen
Cladonia coccinera
fruiting bodies
Ecological significance
• Symbiotic relationships
– Lichen – a combination of plant and fungi in a
mutualistic relationship
(An index species in ecological succession)
• Fungi – obtain sugars and substrate (surface) to grow
on
• Algae – obtains mineral nutrients as the fungus
enzymes break down the rock surface
Ecological significance of Fungi
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Important decomposer
Some pathogenic
Some fight disease (produce antibiotics
Some edible
Some poisonous – enzymes can liquify your liver if you do not
get the appropriate anti-toxin immediately (assuming there is
an anti-toxin)
Mycorrhizae (whitish stuff next to the
brown roots)
Structures
Structure
Function
Cap (Pileus)
Covers and protects the reproductive structures (gills)
Ring (Annulus)
Covered and protected the gills as the fruiting body pushed through the
ground
Cup (Volva)
Covered and protected the gills as the fruiting body pushed through the
ground
Scales
Sections of the cap
Gills (Lamellae)
Contain the basidiospores (spores) – reproductive cells
Stem (stape)
Holds the cap and gills high above the ground, ensuring a wide broadcast
of the spores
Mycelia (pl)
Mycelium (singl)
Release and absorption of digestive enzymes – mushroom absorbs
nutrient-rich liquids through membrane to obtain nutrition
Hyphae
One mycelium filament – used for sexual reproduction and absorption
The Filamentous Body
of a Fungus
(a) Mycelium
(c) Hyphal Cells (cutaway)
Cytoplasm
Haploid
Nuclei
Septum
(b) Individual Hyphae
Pore
Cell Walls
Mycelia
Sexual reproduction
Rhizopus example:
Sporangia
Spores
(haploid)
Diploid
2n
Zygospore
germinates
Haploid
1n
Steps to sexual reproduction
• Hyphae of two fungi grow together (negative
and positive strain- no male or female)
• Genetic material is exchange
• New spore producing structure (zygospore)
grows from the joined hyphae
• New genetically unique fungus grows out from
the zygospore
Mycelia and spores
More spores
The End
Don’t worry, the fungi won’t kill you…
to be continued…
Youtube links
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puDkLFcCZyI&feature=fvst David Attenborough – The Secret life of plants – amazing
growth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuKjBIBBAL8&feature=fvst Cordyceps and insects
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBdg6Of3Er0&feature=related athlete’s food
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeF952Xfz-4&feature=related U of Missouri – fungi research
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cymRslzI97s spore release