Survey of Plants, Fungi, and Algae

1. Survey of Plants, Fungi, and Algae Medically important organisms traditionally called “plants”

2. Five Kingdom System

3. Kingdom Monera • Cyanobacteria - blue green algae • Photosynthetic, prokaryotic organisms • Found in oceans, fresh water, and terrestrial environments • Microscopic unicells, filaments, and colonies • Used as a food source: Nostoc, Spirulina (since ancient times - today high protein additive) • Toxins can cause problems during blooms

4. Nostoc Oscillatoria

5. Kingdom Protista • Six divisions of algae: • Division Pyrrophyta - dinoflagellates • Division Chrysophyta - diatoms • Division Euglenophyta - euglenoids • Division Chlorophyta - green algae • Division Rhodophyta - red algae • Division Phaeophyta - brown algae • Two divisions of fungi

6. Dinoflagellates • Unicellular algae covered with cellulose plates giving an armored appearance • Important to the food chain in marine and fresh water • Some marine species cause Red Tides • Bloom conditions • Color the water “red” • Produce powerful toxins • Pfiesteria newly recognized problem

7. Dinoflagellates

8. Diatoms & Golden Brown Algae • Diatoms abundant and important economically • Important to the food chain in marine and fresh water • Unicells with silicon-based wall with pits, grooves

9. Green Algae • Contains many morphological types • Abundant and diverse in fresh water • Play a significant role in aquatic food chains • Seasonal blooms of green algae are often noticeable in ponds and lakes • Gave rise to the land plants over 400 million yrs ago

11. Red Alage • Seaweeds - large multicellular marine algae occurring in coastal waters often attached to rocks • Highly branched filaments with a feathery appearance or sheet-like • Many used as a food source • Carrageenan and agar: cell wall carbohydrates used as stabilizing agents

13. Brown Algae • Seaweeds - large multicellular marine algae occurring in coastal waters often attached to rocks • Huge kelps form extensive underwater "forests" off the California coast - among the largest plants on Earth • Rockweeds commonly found in the intertidal zone in coastal areas - east coast and west • Complex form: holdfast, stipe, and blade • Many used directly as a food source • Alginic acids (alginates)

14. KELP - common name for several brown seaweeds

15. Algal Bloom

16. Algal Blooms and Harmful Algal Blooms • Many different types of algae can produce an algal bloom • Naturally due to nutrient up-welling but may be due to human sources of nutrients • Can lead to eutrophication, oxygen depletion and death of ecosystem • Blooms especially harmful when the algae are capable of producing toxins • Main toxin formers: Cyanobacteria, Dinoflagellates, Diatoms

17. Drugs from the Sea • Many types of algae, especially red and brown used medicinally • Recent interest in two areas • Anti-cancer compounds -- several dinoflagellate species • Anti-viral compounds - (including anti-HIV and anti-Herpes – many algal polysaccharides, especially from red and brown algae and cyanobacteria

18. Kingdom Planta • 10 divisions of plants • Organize into 4 groups • mosses and liverworts (one division) • ferns and fern-allies (four divisions) • gymnosperms (four divisions) • angiosperms (one division)

19. Bryophyta: mosses, liverworts, and hornworts • Small plants, no vascular tissue • Reproduce by spores formed in a sporangium • Dominant generation is the gametophyte with the sporophyte short-lived • Restricted to moist environments • Sphagnum (peat moss) grows in acid water and used as a soil additive and fuel - traditional use in medicine to pack wounds

20. Moss Liverwort

21. Lower Vascular Plants: Ferns and fern-allies • Reproduce by spores formed in a sporangium • Long fossil history • Four divisions • whisk ferns – Psilophyta - ?? • club mosses – Lycophyta – spores used • horsetails – Sphenophyta – various folk uses • ferns – Pterophyta – some toxic ferns

22. Club Moss

23. Horsetails (Equisetum)

24. Ferns - About 10,000 species exist from tropics to arctic. Braken fern known to be toxic.

25. Gymnosperms • Vascular plants, many are large - include largest organisms on Earth • Reproduce by seeds produced in cones • Long fossil history back to the Carboniferous Period – 250 million years ago • Four divisions of living gymnosperms

26. Gymnosperms • Division Cycadophyta - Cycads • Division Ginkgophyta - Ginkgo • Division Gnetophyta - Ephedra and allies • Division Coniferophyta - Conifers

27. Cycadophyta • Palm-like plants found in tropical and subtropical areas • Long history as a food source as well as a medicinal plant • Contain neurotoxic and carcinogenic compounds • Cycad starch must be detoxified before use • Implicated in a number of neurotoxic conditions including Guam Disease • ALS, Parkinson’s Disease, and Alzheimers

29. Cycad Female Cone

30. Ginkgophyta • Living fossil Ginkgo biloba • Staple of Chinese herbal medicine for over 4000 years • Today extracts from leaves are used as an herbal remedy worldwide • Used to improve circulation by inhibiting clotting – especially useful in the brain • Shown success in improving memory – especially for the elderly

31. Leaves of a Ginkgo tree

32. Gnetophyta • Small group of unusual gymnosperms • 3 very different genera - not closely related to each other • One genus used medicinally, Ephedra • Long history as a medicinal plant especially as a decongestant for asthma, bronchitis, and other respiratory conditions • In China, Ephedra sinica – called Ma Huang has been used for thousands of years • Also well known as a stimulant

35. Coniferophyta • Includes the biggest, tallest, and oldest living organisms • Separate male and female cones • Seeds produced in female cones • Pollen produced in male cones • Economically important for lumber and paper • Taxus (yews) in Taxaceae - source of taxol • Pine (Pinaceae) and cedar (Cupressaceae) are the two largest families

36. Yew (Taxus spp)

37. Cupressaceae - Cedar Family • Genus Juniperus widely used in Native American medicine • Among many tribes considered a sacred medicine • Pollen of many species highly allergenic

38. Division Magnoliophyta - Angiosperms • Flowering plants • Most widespread vegetation on Earth today • Two Classes • Monocots • Dicots

39. Important Angiosperm Families with Health Effects • Solanaceae - nightshade family • Papaveraceae - poppy family • Brassicaceae - mustard family • Euphorbiaceae - euphorb family • Rubiaceae - coffee tree family • Fabaceae - legume family • Liliaceae - lily family

40. Fungi • Generally have a thread-like body • Hypha - single filament or thread • Mycelium - all the hyphae of a colony • Reproduce by spores - usually airborne • Fungal-like organisms in Kingdom Protista • True fungi in the Kingdom Fungi

41. Fungal-like organisms in Kingdom Protista • Slime molds - Division Myxomycota • Slimy (animal-like) feeding stage • Reproduce by spores • Water molds - Division Oomycota • Many in fresh water others on land • Important plant pathogens in this group

42. Kingdom Fungi • Divison Zygomycota (zygomycetes) - simple mycelial fungi – “sugar fungi” • Division Ascomycota (ascomycetes) - yeasts, mycelial fungi, morels, cup fungi, truffles • Division Basidiomycota (basidiomycetes) - mushrooms, bracket fungi, puffballs • Asexual Fungi (imperfect fungi) - artificial group of mycelial fungi with no sexual stage - molds

43. Fungi include molds and mushrooms

44. Fungal Life Styles • Fungi can be pathogens, symbionts, or saprobes • Most fungi are saprobic and recycle organic material • Many symbionts: lichens and mycorrhizae • Many pathogens • Most pathogens are plant pathogen • Some human and animal pathogens • Opportunistic pathogens

45. Fungi and Human Health • Human Pathogens • Allergenic spores • Fungal toxins • Mushroom toxins • Mycotoxins • Antibiotics • Yeast - alcohol production both positive and negative health effects