Plantae Fungi Animalia Protista Monera

Kingdom Fungi About 100,000 species Uses: medicine food Ecological value: major decomposers symbiotic relationships (N 2 fixers) Problems: some strains are deadly athletes foot destroy library books destroy crops

About 30% of the 100,000 known species of fungi are parasites, mostly on or in plants. –American elms: Dutch Elm Disease Some fungi are pathogens Was once one of America's most dominant trees –American chestnut: chestnut blight

Other fungi, such as rusts and ergots, infect grain crops, causing tremendous economic losses each year. Some fungi are pathogens

Curse of the Mummy Some fungi are pathogens

Athletes Foot Some fungi are persistant

Fungi as Decomposers

Kingdom Fungi Eukaryotic, absorptive Mostly multicellular (except few, e.g. yeast) Heterotrophic (decomposers & parasitic) Mycelium (body of hyphae)

Kingdom Fungi Firm cell walls (generally of “chitin”) “Spores” as reproductive bodies Unique chromosomes and nuclei Includes molds, yeasts, rusts, and mushrooms

hyphae - the vegetative bodies of most fungi, constructed of tiny filaments mycelium -an interwoven mat of hyphae

Human hair Fungal hypha

Septate hypha: multicellular walls divided by septa Ceonocytic hypha: continuous cytoplasm mass multinucleate no septa

Haustoria: Modified hyphae found in parasitic fungi Function: absorb nutrients from host Some fungi even have hyphae adapted for preying on animals.

Kingdom Fungi Division Chytridiomycota Division Ascomycota Division Glomeromycota Division Basidiomycota Division Zygomycota Division Deuteromycota

Fig Chytrids (1,000 species) Zygomycetes (1,000 species) Hyphae 25 µm Glomeromycete s (160 species) Fungal hypha Ascomycetes (65,000 species) Basidiomycetes (30,000 species) Fungus -like protist Deuteromycota ?

The five fungal phyla can be distinguished by their reproductive features.

mainly aquatic. Some are saprobes, while others parasitize protists, plants, and animals. chitinous cell wall flagellated zoospores the most primitive fungi Division Chytridiomycota

Division Zygomycota “Zygote fungi” (bread molds) Zygote = “mated” hyphal strands Live in soil, water Some are parasites 600 species

Mated hyphal strands

The zygosporangia are resistant to freezing and drying. When conditions improve, the zygosporangia release haploid spores that colonize new substrates. –Pilobolus aiming its spores.

The zygomycete Rhizopus can reproduce either asexually or sexually.

PHYLUM GLOMEROMYCOTA Previously With Zygomycota Small Monophyletic Clade Endomycorrhizae – Arbuscular Mycorrhizae Produce branching Arbuscules

Fig µm

Plant-Fungal Relationships Mycorrhizae (“fungus roots”) 90% of tree species have this association Very important to absorption of water and nutrients

Soil surface Plant roots Mycorrhizae Increases s.a. for absorption

Division Ascomycota “Sac fungi” (truffles, yeast) Beer > 6,000 years Wine > 8,000 years Lichens Decomposers, pathogens 60,000 species “yeast” describes a form of fungi (i.e., non-hyphal)

Division Ascomycota Scarlet cup truffles Morchella

Roquefort cheese Close up of cheese showing blue-green mycelium of Penicillium roqueforti. Division Ascomycota

Yeast

LICHENS Crusrose Foliose Fruticose

Lichen

Lichen Anatomy

Ascomycetes are characterized by an extensive heterokaryotic stage during the formation of ascocarps.

Division Basidiomycota “Club fungi” (mushrooms) Club-shaped reproductive structure Food Plant diseases 25,000 species

Fairy Ring

The life cycle of a club fungus usually includes a long-lived dikaryotic mycelium.

PHYLUM DEUTEROMYCOTA No Longer Exist!! 22,000 species. No known sexual stage. Saprophytic, parasitic and predatory. Many produce conidia. Most classified as Ascomycota. Fusarium wilt of tomato, potato and cotton. Athletes foot, ring worm

Division Deuteromycota “Imperfect fungi” (penicillin) Unrelated group Asexual No info on sexual cycle 25,000 species

Penicillin Woops… now Ascomycota

Candida albicans “yeast infection”

Botrytis: “Noble Rot”