Fungal CharacteristicsFungal 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 sporesSexually by mating of hyphae filaments

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

-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 (Rhizopus) the Common Molds

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

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

Basidiomycete or Club Fungi

Life Cycle of Basidiomycete Fungi

Bracket Fungi

Puff Balls

Mushrooms

Jelly Fungi

Basidiomycete Fungi that all produce Basiospores

Other Basidiomycetes Rusts and Smuts

Rust infecting

wheat leaves Rust infecting a Leaf

Whitrot Smut digesting old wood

-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 (Imperfect Fungi)

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

Water Molds -- OomycotaThe 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. Water molds or mildews

2. Cause diseases such as potato blight

3. Cell walls made of cellulose (like plant)

4. 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 Ex’s Characteristics

Asexual Sexual

Oomycota Mildew

Spud blight

Cellulose cell walls, 2N hyphae

Flagellated oospores from sporangia

Gametes fuse in gametangia creating oospores

Zygomycota Rhizopus a dung fungus

Chitin cell walls

Coenocytic = hyphae lack crosswalls

Unflagel. spores drop from sporangia

Gametangia fuse to create zygospore

Ascomycota Yeast, morels, truffles

Conidia on conidophores

Hyphae + & - fuse to create ascospores in ascus

Basidiomycota Mushrooms

Puffballs, rusts, smuts

Cross walls in hyphae

Asexual by way of Conidophores which produce conidiospores

Sexual when hyphae fuse in BASIDIA to produce

basidiospores

Fungi Imperfecti

Deuteromycota

Penicillium,

Athlete’s Foot

fungus,

Tomato Blight

Similar

To

Basidio and

Zygomy

Asexual by conidia which

produce conidophores

Sexual repro

Not known

Cross Walls of Hyphae

                                  

coenocytic   

having multiple nuclei embedded in cytoplasm without cross walls; nonseptate

Coenocytic hyphae where the nucleis of each cell is embedded in the cytoplasm without a cell wall

Eg. Zygomycota, Oomycota

Hyphae with cross walls

Eg. Basidiomycota, Ascomycota

Lichens are mutualistic symbiotic organisms. They have an ____________ fungus and a _________ or cyanobacterial portion. There are three lichen growth forms which are predominant in nature: __________________________________________________

LichensLichens

Crustose

Foliose

Fruticose

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.