Fungi

100,000 species

Characteristics

• Eukaryote: with chitonous cell wall, no chloroplasts

• Reproduction– Asexual – budding – in yeast cells– Sexual – spores made inside of “fruiting bodies that are

produced on reproductive hyphae – most fungi• Metabolism: respiration and fermentation

– Absorption of nutrients through mycelia– Saprophytes (most fungi)– Parasite (athlete’s foot, ringworm and Dutch elm)

• Environment: grow best in moist, warm places

Phyla

• Basidiomycetes: club fungi - mushrooms, bracken fungi, puffballs, (produce 4 spores in sporangium)

• Ascomycetes: morel mushroom, cup mushroom (produce 8 spores in sporangium)

• Oomycetes: water-borne fungi• Deuteromycetes: athletes foot

Basidiomycetes

Also includes smut!

Smut!!!!!!!!!!!

Not pornographic material

Not what you think!

Corn smut

Giant puffballs

• Look carefully!

Inside of a puffball

Bracken fungus growing on dead tree

Bracken fungi on tree

                                                                          

   

Rust

“Killer” Mushrooms

Fairy rings• Oops…. Wrong type!

Fairy Ring

A circular collection of fruiting bodies (mushrooms) that are actually all connected underground by one mycelium mass

The larger the diameter, the older the mycelium

Ascomycetes

• Cup/sac fungi

Orange Jelly fungus

Morel mushroom

Stachybotrys mould that is responsible for sick building syndrome (leaky condo)

Oomycetes

• Most feed on dead aquatic materials• Some species are saprophytes of dead plants

and animals• One species is thought to be the cause of the

current worldwide die-off of frogs• primitive, single-celled, colonial, or mycelial

fungi that appear to reproduce asexually most of the time, only reproducing sexually in times of dire need.

Zygomycetes

• Live on soil or dead and decaying plant or animal matter

• Simplest reproductive cycle• Asexual reproduction: produce spores in

sporangia• Sexual reproduction: produce zygospores

Zygospore

Pilobolus kleinii Hat Thrower

Yeast (in bread)

Black bread mold sporangia

Penicillin – (a direct descendant of the fungus used by Dr. Fleming to make the first antibiotic)

Deuteromycetes

• "fungi imperfecti" generally do not exhibit a sexual reproductive function

Athlete’s foot and ringworm

Slime molds – no longer considered

fungi, but protists

Other: NOT a phylum but a symbiotic relationship: Lichen

Foliose lichen

Cladonia coccinera fruiting bodies

Ecological significance

• Symbiotic relationships– Lichen – a combination of plant and fungi in a

mutualistic relationship(An index species in ecological succession)• Fungi – obtain sugars and substrate (surface) to grow

on• Algae – obtains mineral nutrients as the fungus

enzymes break down the rock surface

Ecological significance of Fungi• Important decomposer• Some pathogenic• Some fight disease (produce antibiotics• Some edible• Some poisonous – enzymes can liquify your liver if you do not

get the appropriate anti-toxin immediately (assuming there is an anti-toxin)

Mycorrhizae (whitish stuff next to the brown roots)

StructuresStructure Function

Cap (Pileus) Covers and protects the reproductive structures (gills)

Ring (Annulus) Covered and protected the gills as the fruiting body pushed through the ground

Cup (Volva) Covered and protected the gills as the fruiting body pushed through the ground

Scales Sections of the cap

Gills (Lamellae) Contain the basidiospores (spores) – reproductive cells

Stem (stape) Holds the cap and gills high above the ground, ensuring a wide broadcast of the spores

Mycelia (pl)Mycelium (singl)

Release and absorption of digestive enzymes – mushroom absorbs nutrient-rich liquids through membrane to obtain nutrition

Hyphae One mycelium filament – used for sexual reproduction and absorption

The Filamentous Bodyof a Fungus

(a) Mycelium

(b) Individual Hyphae

(c) Hyphal Cells (cutaway)

Cell Walls

Septum

Pore

CytoplasmHaploidNuclei

Mycelia

Sexual reproduction

Rhizopus example:

Zygosporegerminates

Sporangia Spores(haploid)

Haploid1n

Diploid2n

Steps to sexual reproduction

• Hyphae of two fungi grow together (negative and positive strain- no male or female)

• Genetic material is exchange• New spore producing structure (zygospore)

grows from the joined hyphae• New genetically unique fungus grows out from

the zygospore

Mycelia and spores

More spores

The EndDon’t worry, the fungi won’t kill you…

to be continued…

Youtube links• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puDkLFcCZyI&feature=fvst David Attenborough – The Secret life of plants – amazing

growth• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuKjBIBBAL8&feature=fvst Cordyceps and insects• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBdg6Of3Er0&feature=related athlete’s food• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeF952Xfz-4&feature=related U of Missouri – fungi research• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cymRslzI97s spore release