FUNGI

FUNGI

• COMMON FUNGI

EXAMPLES:

– Mushrooms, yeasts,

molds, morels, bracket

fungi, puff balls

FUNGI

• GENERAL INFORMATION

– Primarily decomposers – return organic

matter to the soil

– Used to produce antibiotics like penicillin

– Used for food – mushrooms, yeast

– Parasites – plants and animals (athlete’s foot,

ringworm)

FUNGI

• OVERVIEW

– Nonmotile organism than obtain food by

decomposing organic matter

– Once considered plants, but contain no

chlorophyll and are not photosynthetic

– Also unlike animals, therefore placed in own

kingdom

FUNGI

• DOMAIN EUKARYOTA

– KINGDOM FUNGI

• General characteristics

– Eukaryotic

– Heterotrophic

– Have cell walls with chitin (different than plant, protist,

and bacterial cell walls)

– May be unicellular but most are multicellular

molds

mildews

rusts

smuts

yeasts

mushrooms

GIANT PUFFBALL

FUNGI

• BASIC FUNGI BODY

STRUCTURE

– Hyphae

• Individual filaments that

contain cytoplasm and

one or more nuclei

• Secrete enzymes to

digest food

• Nutrients absorbed

through cell wall

FUNGI

– Mycelium

• Entwined

hyphae

• Most of fungus,

under substrate

(surface it’s

growing on)

FUNGI

• FRUITING BODY

– Visible part

– Contains spore producing structures

– Like a mushroom cap

FUNGI

• FEEDING TYPES

(NUTRITION)

– Saprophytic – feed on

dead matter

– Parasitic – feed on

living organisms

FUNGI

• HABITATS

– Need organic material, moisture

– Live almost everywhere, from polar icecaps to

deserts to oceans

– Reach new areas through spores carried by

wind

– Spores are necessary to find new food

sources

FUNGI

• FOUR GROUPS OF FUNGI -- 81,500

species of fungi divided by structure and

reproduction

– ZYGOMYCETES – bread molds

– ASCOMYCETES – sac fungi (morels, truffles,

and yeasts

– BASIDIOMYCETES – mushrooms, puff balls

– DEUTEROMYCETES – imperfect fungi

(penicillium)

FUNGI

• Common molds –Zygomycetes

– Frequently found in soil or on dead animals or

plants

– Hyphae lack septa

– Specialized hyphae

• Rhizoids that absorb nutrients and hold molds to

their food source

• Stolons that connect groups of rhizoids together

• Sporangia produces spores during reproduction

FUNGI

• ZYGOMYCOTA gets its name from the tough

spores produced during sexual reproduction

FUNGI

• Sac fungi –Ascomycetes • Powdery mildews, yeasts, fungi in lichens, and

morels

• Characteristic that links these are production of

saclike structures called asci during sexual

reproduction

• Asexually reproduction is rare

FUNGI

• Club Fungi –Basidiomycetes • Mushrooms are club fungi

• Have a tendency to reproduce sexually

• Asexually reproduction is rare

• Three visible structures of mushrooms

– Stipe

– Cap

– Gills made from tightly packed basidia

• Fruiting bodies are called basidia

Structure of Mushroom

annulus

stipe

FUNGI

• Imperfect fungi – Deuteromycetes • Reproduce asexually and NOT sexually

• Examples are athlete’s foot & ringworm

• Example that is helpful is Penicillium because it

make the antibiotic

• Spores called conidia come from hyphae called

conidiophores

FUNGI

• ECOLOGICAL ROLES

– Decompose dead organisms; clear out dead

plants and animals

– Recycle nutrients

FUNGI

• ECOLOGICAL ROLES

– SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIPS

• LICHEN --a symbiotic association

between a fungus and a

photosynthetic partner, usually a

cyanobacterium or green alga.

• The fungi hyphae provide protection and hold

moisture while food is provided by the

photosynthetic partner.

FUNGI

• ECOLOGICAL ROLE -- SYMBIOTIC

RELATIONSHIP WITH PLANT ROOTS

• Mycorrhizae: a symbiotic

association between a fungus and plant

roots.

• Over 90% of plants have fungi associated with

their roots. The fungus absorbs and

concentrates phosphates for delivery to the plant

roots. In return, the fungus receives sugars

synthesized by the plant during photosynthesis.

FUNGI

• ECONOMIC ROLE

– Used directly as food, or to make food

• Yeasts are useful in the making of bread

and fermented drinks.

FUNGI

• ECOLOGICAL ROLE

–Some parasitic fungi are actually

human pathogens causing athlete's

foot and ringworm

–Some parasitic fungi are plant

pathogens that destroy crops

–Produce medicine (antibiotics)

IMPERFECT FUNGI

IMPERFECT FUNGI