Fungal Characteristics
1)Cell wall made of Chitin
2)Heterotrophs and major Decomposers
3)Body is made of Long filaments of hyphae
which form a mycelium
4)Reproduce sexually and asexually
Asexually by spores
Sexually by mating of hyphae filaments
Click for ----> Movie summary
An example of Fungi You know
Mushrooms – “Club Like” Fungi or Basidiomycete Fungi
Bracket Fungi – Basidiomycete Fungi
Bread Mold – a
Zygomycete Fungi
Cup Fungi – Ascomycete Fungi
Note the cup shapes and
orange peel colour
Kingdom Fungi – you must know 5 Major Phyla
1. Phylum Zygomycota = the Bread Molds
Rhizopus – black bread mold
2. Oomycota = the Water Molds
Water mold, potato blight, mildew
3. Phylum Ascomycota = the Sac Fungi
Yeast, morels, truffles
4. Phylum Basidiomycota = the Club Fungi
Mushrooms, puffballs, bracket fungi, rusts, smuts,
toadstools
5. Phylum Deuteromycota = the Fungi Imperfecti
Zygomycota (Rhizopus) the
Common Molds
-are primarily decomposers
-asexual spores may be produced in sporangia
-sexual reproduction occurs between + and – strains forming
a 2n zygote; a zygospore develops and may lie dormant for a
long period of time; meiosis occurs just before germination
-only the zygote is diploid; all hyphae and asexual
spores are haploid
Zygomycota – common molds
The fungal mass of
hyphae, known as the
MYCELIUM
penetrates the bread
and produces the
fruiting bodies on top
of the stalks
Mycelia = a mass of hyphae or
filaments
Rhizoids = root-like hyphae
The zhizoids meet underground and mating occurs between
hyphae of different molds (SEXUAL REPRODUCTION)
Zygomycota (Rhizopus)
Lifecycle of a Zygomycete Fungi – Asexual then Sexual
Click for Video Summary ---> click
Ascomycota – Cup Fungi Life Cycle
Yeast is an Ascomycete Fungus
Truffles are round, warty, fungi that
are irregular in shape. They vary
from the size of a walnut to that of a
man's fist. Since the times of the
Greeks and Romans these fungi
have been used in Europe as
delicacies, as aphrodisiacs, and as
medicines. They are among the
most expensive of the world's
natural foods, often commanding as
much as $250 to $450 per pound.
Truffles are harvested in Europe with the aid of female pigs or truffle
dogs, which are able to detect the strong smell of mature truffles
underneath the surface of the ground. The female pig becomes excited
when she sniffs a chemical that is similar to the male swine sex
attractant. The use of dogs to find truffles is also and option.
Morels are Ascomycete Fungi
Click for Video Summary ---> click
Basidiomycete or Club Fungi
Life Cycle of Basidiomycete Fungi
Bracket Fungi
Puff Balls
Basidiomycete Fungi that all
produce Basiospores
Jelly Fungi
Mushrooms
Other Basidiomycetes Rusts and
Smuts
Rust
infecting
wheat leaves
Rust infecting
a Leaf
Whitrot Smut
digesting old wood
Click for Video Summary ---> click
Deuteromycota (Imperfect Fungi)
-Regarded as imperfect because they exhibit no sexual stage has
been observed in their life cycle
-Members are not closely related and are not necessarily similar
in structure or appearance; do not share a common ancestry,
polyphyletic = coming from many ancestors – hmm weird 
Deuteromycota – the Fungi
Imperfecti
• Resemble Ascomycetes,
but their reproductive
cycle has never been
observed
• Different from
Ascomycetes because
there is a definite lack of
sexual reproduction,
which is why they are
called Imperfect Fungi
Penicillium fungi
Up Close
Click for Video Summary ---> click
Water Molds -- Oomycota
The water molds are better known as the
MILDEWS. Fish tank fuzz is an example.
Protist-like mold because share common
characteristics with plant-like protists, such
as the cell wall
LifeCycle of Oomycota
Things to Know about Oomycete
Fungi
1.
2.
3.
4.
Water molds or mildews
Cause diseases such as potato blight
Cell walls made of cellulose (like plant)
Hyphae have multiple nuclei! Because
the cell walls do not fully close off.
5. Spore swims away like a flagellate, which
is why it is protist like (think of Euglena)
Irish Potato Famine of 19th Century
Devastated potato crops, causing
devastating starvation in Ireland 
Phylum
Oomycota
Ex’s
Characterist
ics
Asexual
Sexual
Mildew
Spud
blight
Cellulose cell Flagellated
walls, 2N
oospores
hyphae
from
sporangia
Gametes fuse
in
gametangia
creating
oospores
Zygomycota
Rhizopus
a dung
fungus
Chitin cell
walls
Coenocytic =
hyphae lack
crosswalls
Gametangia
fuse to create
zygospore
Ascomycota
Yeast,
morels,
truffles
Unflagel.
spores drop
from
sporangia
Conidia on
Hyphae + & conidophores fuse to create
ascospores in
ascus
Basidiomycota
Mushroo
ms
Puffballs,
rusts,
smuts
Fungi
Imperfecti
Penicilliu Similar
m,
To
Athlete’s Basidio
Foot
and
fungus, Zygomy
Tomato
Blight
Deuteromycota
Cross Asexual by way
walls in of Conidophores
hyphae which produce
conidiospores
Asexual by
conidia which
produce
conidophores
Sexual when
hyphae fuse
in BASIDIA
to produce
basidiospores
Sexual repro
Not known
Cross Walls of Hyphae
Coenocytic hyphae where the
nucleis of each cell is
embedded in the cytoplasm
without a cell wall
Eg. Zygomycota, Oomycota
Hyphae with cross walls
c
o
e
n
o
c
y
t
i
c
h
a
v
Eg. Basidiomycota,
Ascomycota
Lichens
Lichens are mutualistic/*symbiotic*
organisms. They have a fungus and
an algal or cyanobacterial portion.
There are three lichen growth forms
which are predominant in nature:
Crustose, Fruticose, and Foliose.
Fruticose
Crustose
Foliose
Mycorrhizae
Mycorrhizae means “fungus-root”;
mutualistic relationship between
plant and fungi
The plant photosynthesizes while
the fungus more efficiently takes
up nutrients and water from the
rhizosphere than the roots would
alone.
Plant benefits include:
•Improved nutrient/water
uptake
•Improved root growth
•Improved plant growth and
yield
•Improved disease resistance
•Reduced transplant shock
•Reduced drought stress
Soredia are the asexual reproductive part of lichens,
containing both symbionts. Rhizines may be present to
anchor the lichen. Notice the distinctive algal layer
and the fungal layer present in the above illustration.
Overview of Fungi Divisions ---> click