Fungi

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Fungi
Morels
Fuzzy Foot Mushrooms
Fairy Ring
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What are they?

• Eukaryotic
• Heterotrophs (decomposers or parasites)
• Cell walls of chitin, a complex carbohydrate.
• Multicellular except yeasts are unicellular
• Fungi have been around for 450-500 million years.

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What are they?

• Lack of chlorophyll affects the lifestyle of
  fungi
• Not dependent on light
• Can occupy dark habitats
• Can grow in any direction
• Can invade the interior of a substance with
  absorptive filaments

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If its a heterotroph and it cant hunt, how does
it get its energy?

• Many fungi are saprobes, so they feed on dead and
  decaying matter.
• Others are parasitic.
• And a few are carnivorous.
• All must digest food outside of their bodies and
  then absorb the nutrients.

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Fungal Nutrition

• As heterotrophs, fungi obtain nutrition by
  absorption.
• Digestive enzymes secreted by the fungus
  breakdown complex food molecules outside of the
  fungal body
• These smaller molecules are absorbed by diffusion

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Fungal Structure Hyphae

• Fungi are composed of tiny, tubular threadlike
  structures called hyphae (hypha)
• Hyphae form an interwoven mat called a mycelium
  (mylcelia). This is the feeding network of a
  fungus.
• Mycelium maximize contact with the food source,
  thereby maximizing absorption
• Hyphae are divided by crosswalls with a pore
  allowing cytoplasm to flow from cell to cell.

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Fungal Nutrition

• Heterotrophic by absorption animation
• video of hyphal growth

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They can be.

• Tiny, like yeast (the yeast here are magnified)
• Or really, really big like a Amillaria bulbosa.
  One in Michigan was found to be bigger than 33
  footballs fields!!

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Fungal Reproduction

• Fungi reproduce by releasing spores that are
  produced by either sexually or asexually.
• Easily carried by wind or water, spores germinate
  to produce mycelia if they land in a moist place
  where there is food

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The Kingdom of Fungi

• The kingdom is divided up by the structure of the
  fungi and the way they reproduce. Most reproduce
  sexually and asexually.
• The 4 phyla that we will be looking at are
• Zygomycota- the common molds
• Ascomycota- the sac fungi
• Basidiomycota- the club fungi
• Deuteromycota- the imperfect fungi

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Phylum Zygomycota

• The common molds are the ones that appear on
  bread and cheese.
• The part of the mold you see is the stolons. The
  parts that penetrate the bread are the rhizoids.
• Their spores are produced in zygosporangia

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Phylum Ascomycota Sac Fungi

• This is the largest phylum in the kingdom.
• Spores are held in structures called an ascus
• Yeasts are found in very moist environments and
  are used for making bread and beer. They are
  also the pink coating that can appear on shower
  curtains.

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Phylum Basidiomycota

• This is the phylum that includes mushrooms.
• This phylum has the most complex life cycle of
  any fungi.
• Only an expert can tell the difference between
  poisonous and non-poisonous mushrooms
• Spores produced and held by basidia

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These are all members of Basidiomycotes
Orange Jelly Fungus
Birds Nest Fungus
Star Stinkhorn Fungus
Puffball
Puffball
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Phylum Deuteromycotes

• These are the imperfect fungi, but there is
  nothing wrong with them.
• They are called imperfect because researchers
  have never observed a sexual phase in their life
  cycle.
• The genera Penicillium is the source of the
  antibiotic penicillin

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The good side of fungi

• They can be major decomposers of dead stuff.
• We can eat some types of mushrooms.
• Fungus is used to make some cheeses, medicines
  and most breads.
• The first antibiotic discovered was penicillin,
  which is made by a common mold.

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And the bad side

• They can cause diseases in plants.
• On the left is an ear of corn with corn smut,
  caused by a fungus.
• On the right, is a wheat plant with rust, also
  caused by a fungus.
• Fungal diseases are responsible for the loss of
  15 of the worlds crops.

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They can cause diseases in animals

• One type of Deuteromycota causes athletes foot.
• If it moves to other parts of the body, it causes
  an infection called ringworm, which is really not
  a worm.

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More fungal infections

• Yeasts that infect the throat cause an infection
  called thrush. Yeasts can also infect the female
  reproductive tract.
• Fungus can infect toenails causing them to turn
  yellowish and to peel.

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Fungi form mutualistic relationships

• Lichens are one.
• are symbiotic associations of a fungus with a
  photosynthetic partner (usually algae or
  bacteria)
• The photosynthetic partner feeds the fungus
• The fungus absorbs water and minerals
• This merge is so complete that lichen are named
  as species

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Fungi form mutualistic relationships

• Mycorrhizae are important in assisting the host
  plant with the uptake of phosphorus and nitrogen,
  two nutrients vital to plant growth.
• Mycorrhizae actually increase the surface area
  associated with the plant root, which allows the
  plant to reach nutrients and water that might not
  be available otherwise.
• Put simply, mycorrhizae extends the plants
  reach, allowing it to get to more of what it
  needs to survive. That makes the plant stronger,
  especially during drought periods