1. Introduction to the Fungi

2. Basic phylogeny

3. How many fungi do you see?? There is only one fungus. In this picture. Most of it is underground. Each of the mushrooms you see is a “fruiting body” (like a flower) that the mushroom uses to reproduce.

4. Example of a “humungous fungus” Armillaria bulbosa – a mushroom producing wood decomposer Covers at least 38 acres in a forest in Michigan Estimated to weigh 100 tons (size of a blue whale) Estimated to be at least 1500 yrs old

5. Kingdom Fungi Eukaryotic heterotrophs with external digestion –Most are saprotrophs: digest decaying material –Important for recycling nutrients Range from a single cell (yeast) to mushrooms whose mycelia cover hundreds of acres Chitinous cell walls Are classified by the way the make spores (sac, club, etc) “imperfect” lack sexual reproduction

6. Hyphae = the “bricks” from which the mushroom is built Structure of Fungi: Most fungi are filamentous because the main body is composed of thread-like filaments called hyphae which form the mycelium. Fungi which produce “mushrooms” are called club fungi.

8. Fungi Importance Food production: improved yield due to symbiosis (plants and fungi mycorrhizae), leavened bread (yeast) Recycling nutrients (through decomposition) Industrial enzymes (bioremediation) Plant growth hormones Antibiotics (penicillin) Lichens = symbiosis between fungi and algae –Good indicators of air quality

9. Penicillium: produced by a fungus WWI, bacterial infections killed more soldiers than bullets. 1928 Dr. Andrew Fleming working at St. Mary’s Hospital in London noticed that mold growing on staph bacterial culture plates had killed the pathogen zone of dead bacteria

10. Penicillin kills bacteria by interfering with the ability to synthesize cell wall.

11. Mycorrhizae: fungi/plant symbiosis “myco” = fungus and “rhiza” = root Symbiotic association between plant roots and fungi Advantages to plant: Fungi are better than plants at acquiring mineral nutrition (P,K, N) from the soil. Fungi improve a plant’s access to water because fungi –can access greater soil volume –can break molecules down into useable forms –Haustoria = specialized hyphae for absorption

12. Mycorrhizae: Fungi can access more of the soil because hyphae of the fungus are smaller than plant roots Hyphae are 1/500th the diameter of a plant root hair Root Hair hyphae

13. Fungi expand the surface area available for nutrient uptake

14. Fungus = mycobiont Algae = photobiont Controlled parasitism?? Lichen are among the “pioneer species” which create soil in areas that have only rocks (such as a lava field). Can withstand areas of drought and extreme temperature; slow growth. They absorb nutrients from the air and from rainfall so lichen are good indicators of air quality. Lichens: fungi/algae symbiosis

15. Absorptive nutrition makes lichens good indicators of air quality

16. Some fungi are predators. They catch and digest other organisms (like nematodes) But still absorptive nutrition! Just have to catch it first…

17. Negative impacts of fungi In animals, infections such as athletes foot, ringworm. In plants, masses of spores cause discolouration of the leaves so infections often called smuts, rusts, spots and other names describing the symptoms. Beetles were vector for Dutch Elm disease. Eyespot of wheatTarspot of sycamoreLeaf rust of daisy