Kingdom
Fungi
Looking at those little things
that grow on trees and the
ground…
Mushrooms & friends
Characteristics
Present in marine and terrestrial environments
Fungi digests food outside of its body (extracellular): release
enzymes into the environment, breaking down organic matter
into a form that can be absorbed.
Reproduction occurs through
fragmentation or through the
release of spores from a fruiting
body
Fungi are generally multicellular
Aleuria aurantia
Characteristics
• Heterotrophic – more than 100 000 species
– Digest food outside of their bodies
• Multicellular, except for yeasts (unicellular)
• Present all over the world
– marine and terrestrial environments
• Cell walls contain chitin
• Main body composed of hyphae
• Sexual and Asexual reproduction
Fungal Anatomy
• Most fungi grow as tubular filaments called
hyphae (look thread – like). An interwoven
mass of hyphae is called a mycelium.
• The walls of hyphae are often strengthened
with chitin
• Fruiting Body – the spore producing
reproductive structure
• REPRODUCTION
• Fungi reproduce by releasing spores from a fruiting
body. The spore is released into the air and the wind
carries it off to start the next generation.
The Fungal Phylums
Kingdom Fungi is divided into 4 phylums:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Zygospore Fungi
Club Fungi
Sac Fungi
Imperfect Fungi
Zygospore Fungi
– Reproduce both sexually and asexually:
– They are Multicellular
– Asexually – spores produced in sporangium
– Sexually – through + and – strains in the root
– The zygospore (a thick wall develops around
it and protects it from drying out) lays
dormant until conditions are favourable for
growth.
– Then it absorbs water and underges meiosis
This is why you do not
eat mouldy bread…
It’s not bad… it’s just hairy!
Club Fungi
Can be thought of as the typical
mushroom
They are connected by the underground
mycelium
This includes mushrooms that grow on
lawns and puffballs and stinkhorns
found on woodland floors.
The fruiting bodies release spores
called BASIDIA.
Sac Fungi
Produce spores inside cases
Powdery mildews that grow on leaves
and the morels and truffles used in
gourmet meals.
Larges group of fungi
Examples: Sacharomyces cerevisiae
(brewers, bakers, and nutritional
yeast)…used to produce popular staples
such as bread and beer
Sac Fungi
• Develop small
finger like sacs
called ASCI
• Get nutrition by
breaking down
materials in wood
• Other species are
parasites of plants,
producing leaf curl,
chestnut blight, and
Dutch Elm disease.
• Single celled yeast
are part of this
group of fungi
SAC FUNGI
Imperfect Fungi
– “left-overs” that do not
fit well into other
groups
– asexual
Example: penicillin,
tricophyton (Athlete’s
foot), Candida
albicans (‘yeast’
infections)
Human Fungus Diseases
• Ringworm
• Athlete’s foot
• Amanita – death cap
Discovery of Penicillin
Alexander Fleming was
born in 1881. Began
microbiological research
at St. Mary’s campus,
London University
In the 1920s Fleming was
experimenting on bacteria
when it was contaminated
with a fungal spore
He noticed it killed
the bacteria, but due
to limited resources
he could not purify
the chemical that
was killing the
bacteria
Research was resumed
in the 1930 when it
was purified and
used to treat
bacterial infections