1. The Kingdom Fungi
Ode to Mushrooms!

2. Main Characteristics Eukaryotic Heterotrophs
Digest food outside their body then absorb it
Have cell walls made of chitin
Multicellular (except for yeast)
Composed of filaments called hyphae
Can contain cross walls
Tangle mass of hyphae called mycelium
Huge surface area for absorption
Mushroom is the fruiting body

3. Reproduction - Asexually
Reproduce asexually
Hyphae can break off and begin to grow on their own
Called fragmentation
Produce spores in structures called sporangia
Found on the tips of specialized hyphae called sporangiophores

4. Reproduction - Sexually
Reproduce sexually
Two mating types called “+” (plus) and “-“ (minus)
From a gamete forming structure called a gametangium
Opposites meet and fuse into a zygote
Starts meiosis to make haploid spores again 
Spores scatter in the wind and germinate in favourable conditions

5. Classification
Classified according to their structure and method of reproduction
4 phyla

6. Phylum Zygomycota, or common mold
Life cycle includes zygospores
Resting spore resulting from sexual reproduction
Can be dormant a long time
Check out the life cycle on p. 531
Ex. Rhizopus

8. Phylum Ascomycota, or sac fungi
Life cycle contains an ascus
Reproductive structure containing spores
In asexual reproduction, tiny spores called conidia are formed on the tips of conidiophores
In sexual reproduction, the haploid hyphae grow close together and become N + N which produce a fruiting body
Within the ascus the nuclei finally fuse then undergoes meiosis followed by mitosis to produce eight ascospores

10. Phylum Ascomycota - Yeast
Yeasts are an anomaly since they are unicellular but still form ascospores during sexual reproduction
Undergo asexual reproduction called budding

11. Phylum Basidiomycota, or club fungi
Specialized reproductive structures that look like a club
Called basidia
Found on the gills underneath a mushroom cap
Complex life cycle
Haploid hyphae of different mating types fuse to become N + N
Secondary mycelium grows for years
Fruiting bodies can emerge overnight as hyphae enlarge
Gills are lined with basidia
Nuclei fuse to become a zygote then undergo meiosis
Form a cluster of four haploid basidiospores

13. Phylum Basidiomycota Very diverse group Shelf fungi Puffballs
Plant parasites
“mushrooms”

14. Phylum Deuteromycota, or imperfect fungi
Sexual stages have never been seen by scientists
Best known is Penicillium