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 mycelia

• Fruiting bodies are called basidia

Structure of Mushroom

annulusstipe

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