4. Fungal Characteristics
       1) Fungi can be food sources or ingredients
and go grow almost anywhere!
2) Scientists are not sure how fungi are RELATED to
other organisms, but all fungi except yeast have
many cells
3) Cell wall made of chitin
    4) Heterotrophs – decomposers (MOST are
saprophytes) or parasites
     5) Body is made of long filaments of hyphae which
form a mycelium and produce enzymes for digestion
        6) Reproduce sexually and asexually
*Asexually by spores
*Sexually by mating of hyphae filaments from two genetically different fungi

5. Kingdom Fungi Phylum Zygomycota = the Bread Molds/zygospore fungi
Rhizopus – black bread mold – produce spores in round cases called sporangia
Phylum Oomycota = the Water Molds
Water mold, potato blight, mildew
Phylum Ascomycota = the Sac/Cup Fungi
Yeast, morels, truffles – produce spores in small, saclike structures called an ascus; yeasts reproduce by budding
4. Phylum Basidiomycota = the Club Fungi
Mushrooms, puffballs, bracket fungi, rusts, smuts, toadstools – produce spores in club-shaped structure called a basidium
5. Phylum Deuteromycota = the Imperfect Fungi, e.g penicillin ~ never been observed reproducing

6. Zygomycota (Rhizopus) the Common Molds
-are primarily decomposers
-asexual spores may be produced in sporangia
-sexual reproduction may occur between different strains
-only the zygote is diploid; all hyphae and asexual spores are haploid

7. Zygomycota – common molds
The fungal mass of hyphae, known as the MYCELIUM penetrates the bread and produces the fruiting bodies on top of the stalks
Mycelia = a mass of hyphae or filaments

8. Bread Mold – a Zygomycete Fungi

9. Water Molds -- Oomycota
The water molds are better known as the MILDEWS. Fish tank fuzz is an example.
Protist-like mold because share common characteristics with plant-like protists, such as the cell wall

10. Things to Know about Oomycete Fungi
Water molds or mildews
Cause diseases such as potato blight
Cell walls made of cellulose (like plant)
Hyphae have multiple nuclei! Because the cell walls do not fully close off.
Spore swims away like a flagellate, which is why it is protist like (think of Euglena)

11. Irish Potato Famine of 19th Century
Devastated potato crops, causing devastating starvation in Ireland 
Estimates of deaths in the famine years range from 290,000 to 1,500,000 with the true figure probably lying somewhere around 1,000,000, or 12% of the population.

13. Note the cup shapes and orange peel colour
Cup Fungi – Ascomycete Fungi
Note the cup shapes and orange peel colour

14. Yeast is an Ascomycete Fungus

15. Truffles are round, warty, fungi that are irregular in shape
Truffles are round, warty, fungi that are irregular in shape. They vary from the size of a walnut to that of a man's fist. Since the times of the Greeks and Romans these fungi have been used in Europe as delicacies, as aphrodisiacs, and as medicines. They are among the most expensive of the world's natural foods, often commanding as much as $250 to $450 per pound.
Truffles are harvested in Europe with the aid of female pigs or truffle dogs, which are able to detect the strong smell of mature truffles underneath the surface of the ground. The female pig becomes excited when she sniffs a chemical that is similar to the male swine sex attractant. The use of dogs to find truffles is also and option.

16. Morels are Ascomycete Fungi

17. Basidiomycete or Club Fungi

18. Basidiomycete Fungi that all produce Basiospores
Bracket Fungi
Puff Balls
Basidiomycete Fungi that all produce Basiospores
Jelly Fungi
Mushrooms

19. Other Basidiomycetes Rusts and Smuts
Rust infecting wheat leaves
Whitrot Smut digesting old wood
Rust infecting a Leaf

20. An example of Fungi You know

21. Mushrooms – “Club Like” Fungi or Basidiomycete Fungi

22. Bracket Fungi – Basidiomycete Fungi

23. Deuteromycota (Imperfect Fungi)
-Regarded as imperfect because they exhibit no sexual stage has been observed in their life cycle
-Members are not closely related and are not necessarily similar in structure or appearance; do not share a common ancestry,

24. Deuteromycota – the Fungi Imperfecti
Resemble Ascomycetes, but their reproductive cycle has never been observed
Different from Ascomycetes because there is a definite lack of sexual reproduction, which is why they are called Imperfect Fungi
Penicillium fungi
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25. Lichens
Lichens are mutualistic symbiotic organisms. They are composed of a fungus and either a green alga or a cyanobacterium
*Important food source
*Help rocks weather, or break down
*Indicator species ~ monitor pollution

26. Fruticose
Crustose
Foliose

27. Mycorrhizae
Mycorrhizae means “fungus-root”; mutualistic relationship between plant and fungi - may have allowed plants to move from water to land about 500 million years ago!
The plant photosynthesizes while the fungus more efficiently takes up nutrients and water from the rhizosphere than the roots would alone.
Plant benefits include:
Improved nutrient/water uptake
Improved root growth
Improved plant growth and yield
Improved disease resistance
Reduced transplant shock
Reduced drought stress

28. Importance of Fungi
Cultivated mushrooms are an important food crop; yeast is used in baking industry
Fungi can cause disease in plants and animals, e.g., Dutch elm disease, apple scab
Fungi can cause disease in humans, e.g., ringworm and athlete’s foot
Produce antibiotics, e.g., penicillin
Decomposers ~ recycle organic matter