Understanding Fungi: Characteristics, Structure, and Classification

Fungi Unit 6 Part 3

Characteristics • Eukaryotic heterotrophs • Multicellular (except yeasts) • Cell wall • Made of chitin

Characteristics • Digest food outside of their bodies and then absorb it • Some absorb decaying matter in the soil (saprotrophic  decomposers) • Some are symbiotic (lichen, plants) • Some are parasitic – absorb nutrients from host

Characteristics • Fungi as parasites: • Plant diseases (mildew, corn smut) • Human diseases (foot fungus, yeast infections) • Other animal diseases (Cordycepsfungus)

Fungal Disease

Structure & Function • Composed of thin filamentscalled Hyphae • Hyphae are tangled together in a thick mass called mycelium • Large surface area for absorbing nutrients

Structure & Function • Fruiting body – reproductive structure; grows from the mycelium in the soil • Can have many f.b.’s emerging from same mycelium

Structure & Function • Mycelium can live for many years • Over time…nutrients are depleted from soil around them…Why? • Result…

Structure & Function • Fairy Rings • New fungi sprout at edges of mycelium, forming rings.

Reproduction • Asexual: • Cells/hyphae break off + grown on own • Scattered spores (reproductive cell; grows into new org. through mitosis alone)

Reproduction • Sexual: • No “male/female” • Called “+” and “-” • Hyphae from + and – fuse together and produce a diploid zygote

Classification • Common Mold • Black bread mold • Sac Fungi • Largest group of fungi • Includes yeasts

Classification • Club Fungi • Reproductive structures look like clubs • Extremely diverse

Understanding Fungi: Characteristics, Structure, and Classification

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