KINGDOM FUNGI Chapter 20

Characteristics -Can grow anywhere -grow best in moist environments at warm temperatures Structure -unicellular types are yeasts -most fungi are multicellular -basic structural units: threadlike filaments called hyphae -hyphae develop from spores & form network of filaments called mycelium

Benefits -break down organic materials that would otherwise litter the earth -release nutrients so other living things can use them How do they obtain food? -use extracellular digestion-release digestive enzymes onto the food and absorb small molecules as they are broken down

Feeding relationship -Saprophytes: decomposers that feed on waste or dead organic material -mutualists: live in symbiotic relationship w/ another organism (algae) -parasitic: absorb nutrients from living cells of their hosts (tree diseases)

Reproduction in fungi -Asexual: -yeasts use budding, where they reproduce through mitosis, and the new cell splits off of the parent cell -fragmentation: in multicellular fungi, pieces of hyphae are broken off and grow into a new mycelium -Sexual/Both -spores: hyphae grow when favorable conditions are found

- many spores are produced at one time, increases germination and improves chance of species survival -moved wind, water, insects, & birds

Examples: Mushrooms Yeast Bread mold Penicillium Truffles Athlete’s foot Produce cheeses, yogurt and cottage cheese (examples to follow)

Examples Cont’d

Truffles Yeast British soldiers Fungal infection on the nail Yeast infection on the tongue Morels Cont’d

Fungus on an agar plate Athlete’s Foot Mold on fruit Penicillium Cont’d

Types of Fungi Zygomycotes 1000 species, decomposers, reproduce Asexually through spores -include Rhizopus, bread mold

Examples Hyphae Mycelium made of hyphae

Bread mold Cont’d

Ascomycotes Largest phylum, 30,000 species Called sac fungi Include morels, truffels, and yeasts Yeasts are used in baking, brewing, and wine making

Yeast cells budding end

Basidiomycotes (Club Fungi) -one of the most diverse types, 25,000 species -includes mushrooms, puffballs, bird’s nest fungi, rust, and smut fungi -have club shaped hyphae called basidia that produce spores

Cap Stalk Gills Basidia: inside gills, small, lines inside Spores: attached to basidia

Powerful Puffballs

Deuteromycotes 25,000 species antibiotic penicillin is made from a fungi that grows on fruit Used in making soy sauce and blue cheese

Penicillium on an orange Cont’d