Characteristics
•HETEROTROPIC
– No chlorophyll
– SAPROBES: Energy from breaking
down organic material
– PARASITES: harm others that live near
them
•Can cause plant diseases
– Corn smut, wheat rust
•Can cause animal diseases
– Athlete’s foot, ring worm (not a worm)
Is it a Plant or animal?
•Like a plant
– Cell walls, do not move, and looks like
one
•Not like a plant
– No chlorophyll
•Like an animal
– Heterotroph
•Not like an animal
– Do not digest their food
Characteristics
• Mostly multi-cellular
– Except for yeasts: unicellular
•FILAMENTOUS BODIES
–No cells, just long filaments
•CELL WALLS MADE OF CHITIN
–Polysaccharide (carbohydrate)
•NUCLEAR MITOSIS
– a little different than a plant or
animal
H y p h a e
&
S p o r e s
Fungal Parts
• Septum: Chitin Walls between the cells
• Hyphae: slender filaments
• M y c e l i u m - a mat of interwoven
hyphae
• Rhizoids: root-like structure in some
fungi
• Stolons: creeping hyphae of some fungi
that gives rise to new organisms
•Sporangia: the maker of
spores
•Spores: little pockets
that are spread by the
wind
hyphae (green), sporangia
(orange) and spores (blue),
Fungal hyphae showing some with cell walls
and some without
Note the pore through the cell wall allowing
cytoplasm to move from cell to cell to bring nutrients
from one end of the organism to the other
Mushroom Life Cycle
Fungi Nutrition
• Secretes digestive enzymes that break
down organic material
• Some compete for nutrients with their
host
• Fungi form a symbiotic relationship with
other organisms: MYCORRHIZAE
• A symbiotic relationship is beneficial to
both members.
– Plants provide sugar to fungi
– Fungi help plants absorb more nutrients
Benefits of Fungi
•Used to make medicines such as
Penicillin
•Used in Cooking:
– Bread
– Mushrooms in salads, on pizza, etc.
– Cheeses
– Soy sauce
– Beer, wine and champagne
Reproduction
•Asexual
–Some may have filaments that
break from the main mycelium and
grow into new individuals
–Some produce spores that
disperse, germinate, divide and
produce genetically identical fungi
•Spores can withstand extreme
dryness and cold to produce new
fungi when conditions permit
Reproduction continued…
• Develop two short-lived diploid cells
(with two sets of chromosomes) that
soon produce a haploid cell through
meiosis.
• Spores develop into cells that divide by
mitosis to form a new hypha, then new
mycelium
Zygomycota
•Common bread mo
ld
•Hyphae lack
septa
• Sexual reproduction is by
conjugation
• Forms sporangia
• Example: Rhizopus
stolonifer- black bread mold
(bottom picture); diagram p. 485
Basidiomycota
•Mushrooms
•Underground hyphae
intertwine and grow
upward to produce a
reproductive structure
called a basidiocarp.
•This is what we know as
the mushroom.
Examples of basidiomycetes
Rusts, smuts, & ergots
Fun Fungi Fact:
Ergots – can cause gangrene,
nervous spasms, burning
sensations, hallucinations,
temporary insanity, and
death when accidentally
ingested
In 944 A.D. more than
40,000 people died in
France from ergot
poisoning. It contains
one of the active
ingredients found in
LSD.
Some of the “witch hunts” of 17th century
America have been attributed to ergot
poisoning as it is a common pest in rye.
Oddly enough, it has
been used for medicinal
purposes in treating high
blood pressure and
stopping maternal
bleeding following
childbirth
FAIRY RING – results from the outward
growth in all directions of a basidiomycete
(mushroom); the structures visible above
the ground are the reproductive
structures; the body of the fungus
(mycelium) is in the ground
Do Not Eat
Ascomycota
(sac fungi)
• Unicellular to multicellular
• Mildew, molds, yeasts, Penicilluim
• The largest group of fungi.
• Named for the reproductive sacs Asci -that form near the tips of the
hyphae
• sac fungi are used in commercial baking
and brewing, wine making, and in the
production of antibiotics.
Asci & Spores
Cup Fungi
Cup Fungi Cutaway
Yeasts
•Reproduce
asexually by
budding
•Used commercially
–Bread
–Wine
–Beer
Deuteromycota
(imperfect fungi)
•r i n g w o r m , a n d a t h l e t e ’ s f o o t
• No sexual stage has been identified in this
group.
• Reproduce by fragmenting, with
segments of hyphae commonly blown
about in dust by currents and the wind
Penicillium
Lichens
•A symbiotic relationship between a
fungi and a photosynthetic partner
such as an algae or cyanobacteria.
•The photosynthetic organism
provide nutrients for themselves
and the fungus, while the fungus
provides water and minerals for
the photosynthetic metabolism
Lichen on wood