EEB331H – INTRODUCTION TO THE FUNGI(Fall 2008)

Instructor

Jean-Marc Moncalvo <jeanmarcm@gmail.com>, 416-586-5522

Curator of Fungi, Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum, andAssociate Professor, Departments of Ecology and Evolution and Cell &

Systems Biology, U. of T.

Teaching Assistant

Damon Dewsbury <damon.dewsbury@utoronto.ca> >

Graduate student. Current research: morels systematics and biology.

Teaching Technician

Bill Cole <cole@eeb.utoronto.ca>

My research interests and current works in my lab

• Molecular systematics (phylogenetics) of mushrooms; contribution to the assembly ofthe Fungal Tree of Life)

• Species-level studies: Biogeographic relationships, species circumscription, taxonomy;particularly for mushrooms of ecological and/or economic importance (e.g., mycorrhizaland/or edible or medicinal species

• DNA barcoding of fungi: the use of sequences from short DNA fragments for rapididentification

• Documenting mushrooms from little explored habitats, particularly in the tropics

• Documenting fungal diversity in the environment from the use of DNA-based methods

Course Organization

This course consists of

(1) Lectures (including assigned reading)

(2) Lab

(3) Field excursion, 3-5 Oct. (optional but highly recommended)

Marks:

2 Tests, 25% each (lectures, journal articles, and lab material)

- typically 10 short questions (75%) and a short essay (25%)

2 Lab reports, 25% each

A Course Web site will post lecture notes and other information as the courseprogresses, so please consult it regularly.

http://courses.eeb.utoronto.ca/eeb331/

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Recent or landmark review articles and research papers will accompany the lectures. Useful source

of information for the short essay in tests.

TEXTBOOKS

No textbook is required for the course. However, I use information from the three following book:.

Alexopoulos, Mims, and Blackwell.1996.Introductory Mycology. 4th Edition.

Recommended field guide for mushrooms

Can be ordered from:http://www.amazon.ca/Mushrooms-Northeast-North-America-Midwest/dp/1551052016

WELCOME TO THE KINGDOM OF FUNGI !

- Fungi are a morphologically, taxonomically, and ecologically very diverse group oforganisms.

- Most fungi are cryptic organisms that spend most of their life cycle by producing undifferentiated vegetativehyphae (mycelium) often underground or buried in their host.

http://home.wanadoo.nl/abiemans/e_mycelium.html

Asexual reproduction

Sexual Reproduction(fructification)= Basis for taxonomy

Five major evolutionary groups of Fungi are recognized

Chytridiomycota (pic from Kendrick) Zygomycota (pic from Kendrick) Glomeromycota (pic from Kendrick)

Basidiomycota

Ascomycota

Fungi play major roles in terrestrial ecosystems as mutualists, parasites, and decomposers

Association with termite nests (pic. from D. Pegler),

Ectomycorrhizal association with tree roots (pic. from T. Bruns)

Nematode-trapping fungus(pic. from G. Barron)

Smut on corn

Wood decay (pic. from E. Barnatrd)

From Alexopoulos et al., 1996

Fungi and Humans:Friend and Foe

Source: Tree of Life Web Project, Nov. 2002: http://tolweb.org/tree/phylogeny.html- Berbee & Taylor, Mycota, 2000- Heckman et al., Science, 2001

Fungi are now believed to be sister group of the animals

FungiAnimals (Metazoa)ChoanoflagellatesAlveolatesStramenopilesRhodophtaGreen plantsunclassified protistsEubacteriaArchea

Divergence time (origin of fungi): 900 myo - 1.5 byo

Number of known fungal species = 80,060(Dictionary of fungi, 9th edition, 2001)

29,91432,739 150 940 91415,945

BasidiomycotaAscomycotaGlomeromycot aZygomycot aChytridiomycotamitosporic fungi

Estimated number of species : 1.5 millions but only 5-10% are known (Hawksworth, 1991, 2001)

1.5 millions fungal species? Only ca. 80,000 known?Then, were are the ‘missing’ fungi?

Unexplored regions of the world, mainly in the tropics- it is ‘easy’ to collect new fungal species… (but not so easy to establish that they are‘new’!)

Microscopic fungi in little explored ‘micro’ habitats; e.g.,- rumen of animals: discovery of a novel group of chytrids- plant leaves and roots (endophytes);- soil; etc.

Cryptic fungi, for which no fructification has been detected and do not grow on standardculture media:- e.g., groups only known from molecular data;

Cryptic (sibling) species:- morphologically indistinguishable taxa, yet sexually incompatible and geneticallydivergent.

Paper to read

Hawksworth, D.L. 2001. The magnitude of fungal diversity: the 1.5 million speciesestimate revisited. Mycological Research 105:1422-1432.

The author, Professor David L. Hawksworth (UK) has been a leader and a scientific forcethroughout his career in mycology. Highlights:- Has published > 550 scientific papers; author or editor of more than 50 books.- Director of the International Mycological Institute at Kew and Egham (1983-97).- President of the International Mycological Association (1990-94).- President of the International Union of Biological Sciences (1994-97).- Council Member in Nature (1996-99).- Decorated by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for services to science (1996).- Currently ‘retired’, but acts as the Executive Editor of the journal Mycological Research.