FUNGI

eukaryotic immobile heterotrophs with cell walls

● most are multicellular, except unicellular yeast
● cell walls made up of chitin, a complex carbohydrate also found in external skeletons of
insects
● digest food outside of their bodies and then absorb it
● absorb nutrients from decaying matter
● parasites, absorb nutrients from bodies of their hosts
● some are edible, while others are poisonous
● both asexual and sexual reproduction
● grow best in warm, moist environments
 STRUCTURE
● multicellular (except yeast)
● composed of thin tubular filaments hyphae, each made of 1 continuous cell, filled w/
cytoplasm & nuclei
● hard cell walls made of chitin
● septa - cross walls which may form compartments. have pores for movement of cytoplasm &
nuclei (septate hyphae)
○ septate hyphae
○ aseptate (coenocytic) hyphae

● hyphae tangled together form a thick

network called mycelium, which runs
through thallus, the body
● mycelium - well-suited to absorb food bc
it permits a large surface area to come in
contact w/ the food source through which
it grows
● fruiting body - reproductive structure
growing from the mycelium in the soil
beneath it; clusters of mushrooms are
often part of the same mycelium

Fairy Rings
● as time goes by, soil nutrients near the center of the mycelium become depleted
● new mushrooms sprout only at the edges, producing a ring
● fairy rings can become enormous over the years, from 10 to 30 m in diameter
 REPRODUCTION
ASEXUAL
● when cells or hyphae break off form a fungus and begin to grow on their own
● some also produce spores which can scatter and grow into new organisms
● spore - reproductive cell capable of growing into a new organism by mitosis alone
● sporangia - spore-producing structure found at the tips of specialized hyphae
sporangiophores

SEXUAL
● involves 2 different mating types - abt the same size, “+” & “-”
● when hyphae of opposite mating types meet, they begin fusing
1. fusion - bringing + & - nuclei together in the same cell
2. growth and development
3. nuclei form a diploid zygote nucleus
4. meiosis - production of haploid spores
5. mitosis of spores

HOW FUNGI SPREAD

● many fungi produce dry, almost weightless spores which scatter easily in the wind
● germinate in a favorable environment - proper combo of temp., moisture, and food
● other fungi are specialized to lure animals, which disperse fungal spores over long distances
○ eg. stinkhorns smell like rotting meat, which attracts flies. upon landing, the flies ingest
the sticky, smelly, spore-containing fluid on the surface of the fungus. it passes
unharmed out of the flies’ digestive syst., depositing spores over many km
 COMMON MOLDS (ZYGOMYCOTA)
● molds that grow on meat, cheese, bread
● have life cycles that include a zygospore - resting spore that contains zygotes formed during
the sexual phase of the mold’s life cycle
● structure:
○ hyphae w/o cross walls
○ repr. struct. have cross walls
○ rhizoids - rootlike hyphae that anchor the fungus to the surface, release digestive
enzymes, absorb digested organic material
○ stolons - stemlike hyphae that run along the surface & connect groups of hyphae to e/o
○ sporangiophores - hyphae that push up into the air & form sporangia at their tips
■ a single sporangium may contain up to 40k spores
● eg. black bread mold (rhizopus stolonifer)

Life cycle
1. hyphae form diff. mating types
2. fusion = gametangia, a gamete-forming structure
3. haploid (N) gametes produced in the gametangia fuse w/ gametes of the opp. mating type to
form diploid (2N) zygotes
4. zygotes develop into thick-walled zygospores, which may remain dormant for months
5. favorable conditions = germination, sporangium emerges
6. asexual repr. - release of haploid spores produced by meiosis
 SAC FUNGI (ASCOMYCOTA)
● ascus - reproductive struct. containing spores
● largest phylum of the kingdom Fungi
● some are large enough to be visible when they grow above the ground, some are microscopic
● both asexual & sexual repr.

Asexual Reproduction
● conidia - tiny spores formed at the tips of specialized hyphae conidiophores (greek konis =
dust)
● suitable environment = conidium grows into a haploid mycelium

Sexual Reproduction
● haploid hyphae of 2 diff. mating types grow close together
● N + N hyphae produce a fruiting body
● gametangia from 2 mating types fuse, but haploid (N) nuclei don’t
● this fusion produces hyphae that contain haploid nuclei from each of the mating types (N+N)
● ascus forms within the fruiting body
● within the ascus, 2 nuclei of diff. mating types fuse to form a diploid zygote (2N)
● meiosis = 4 haploid cells
● mitosis = 8 cells aka ascospores
● favorable environment = germination, ascospore grows into a haploid mycelium
Yeasts
● unicellular fungi
● used by humans for baking and brewing (genus Saccharomyces = sugar fungi)
● dry granules contain ascospores, which become active in a moist environment
● budding - asexual reproduction, cell division in rapidly growing yeast cells
● grown in a rich nutrient mix containing very little oxygen
● alcoholic fermentation to obtain energy
● byproducts - CO2 & alcohol
● carbon dioxide gas makes beverages bubble and bread rise
● alcohol evaporates during baking of bread, in brewing it remains in resulting alc. beverages
 CLUB FUNGI (BASIDIOMYCOTA)
● basidium - specialized repr. structure that bears spores, found on gills on the underside of
mushroom caps
● most elaborate life cycle of all fungi
● mushrooms; shelf fungi (grow near surfaces of dead or decaying trees); puffballs; earthstars;
jelly fungi; plant parasites known as rusts

Life cycle
● basidiospore germinates = haploid primary mycelium, which begins to grow
● mycelia of diff. mating types fuse = secondary mycelium which contains haploid nuclei of
each mating type
● may grow in the soil for years, reaching an enormous size, perhaps largest organisms in the
world
● suitable environment = spore-producing fruiting bodies push above the ground (mushrooms)
● each mushroom begins as a mass of growing hyphae that forms a button (thick bulge) at the
soil’s surface
● fruiting bodies expand w/ astonishing speed, sometimes producing fully developed
mushrooms overnight. cell enlargement, not cell division. by rapidly taking in water
● when the mushroom cap opens, it exposes 100s of tiny gills on its underside, each lined with
basidia
● 2 nuclei in each basidium fuse to form a diploid (2N) zygote cell
● meiosis, forms clusters of haploid basidiospores which form at the edge of each basidium
● within a few hours, basidiospores are ready to be scattered
 IMPERFECT FUNGI (DEUTEROMYCOTA)
● cannot be placed in other phyla bc researches have never been able to observe a sexual phase
in their life cycles
● species Penicillium notatum
○ mold that frequently grows on fruit
○ source of the antibiotic penicillin
○ reproduces asexually by means of conidia
○ probably evolved from an ascomycete that lost its sexual phase
 ECOLOGY
● oldest known fossils formed ~460 million yrs ago
● helped early plants to obtain nutrients from the ground

Heterotrophs
● cannot move to capture food, but their mycelia can grow very rapidly into the tissues & cells of
plants & other org.
● saprobes - obtain food from decaying organic matter
● parasites - harm other org. while living directly on or within them
● symbionts - live in close & mutually beneficial association w/ other species (lichens &
mycorrhizae)
● a few feed by capturing live animals, eg. Pleurotus ostreatus - carnivorous fungus that lives on
the sides of trees & captures roundworms

Decomposers
● maintain equilibrium
● recycle nutrients by breaking down the bodies & wastes of other organisms
● feed by releasing digestive enzymes that break down leaves, fruit, and other organic matter
into simple molecules
● these molecules then diffuse into the fungus
● mycelia produce digestive enzymes that speed up the breakdown of wastes & dead organisms

Parasites
● cause serious plant and animal diseases, sometimes in humans too
● corn smut - destroys corn kernels; mildews - infects a wide variety of fruits; wheat rust
● responsible for loss of ~15% crops grow in temperate regions, 50% in tropical areas where
high humidity favors fungal growth
● athlete’s foot
○ fungus forms directly within the outer layer of the skin between the toes
○ produces a red, inflamed sore
○ spores can easily spread from person to person
○ can infect other areas, eg. skin of the scalp - produces red scaling sore aka ringworm
● Candida albicans
○ yeast
○ can disrupt the equilibrium within the human body, causing fungal disease
○ grows in moist regions of the body, usually kept in check by competition from bacteria
in the body
○ if the balance is disrupted, Candida may produce a thrush, a painful mouth infection
○ overgrowth causes yeast infection of the female reproductive tract
● genus Cordyceps
○ infects grasshoppers in rainforests in Costa Rica
○ microscopic spores become lodged in the grasshopper, where they germinate &
produce enzymes that slowly penetrate the insect’s tough external skeleton
○ spores multiply in the insect’s body, digesting all its cells & tissue until the insect dies
○ hyphae develop, cloaking the decaying exoskeleton in a web of fungal material
 ○ repr. structures then emerge from the insect’s remains

Lichens
● symbiotic associations btwn a fungus & a photosynthetic organism
● fungi usually ascomycetes, a few are basidiomycetes
● photosynth. org. is either a green alga or a cyanobacterium, or both
● extremely resistant to drought and cold
● grow where few other can survive - dry, bare rock in deserts; mountain tops
● algae or cyanobacteria carry out photosynthesis, providing the fungus w/ a source of energy
● fungus provides water and minerals it collects & protects the delicate green cells from intense
sunlight
● break down the rock on which they form, helping in the early stages of soil formation
● sensitive to air pollution

Mycorrhizae
● symbiotic associations of fungi & plant roots
● 80% of all plant species form mycorrhizae w/ fungi
● hyphae aid plants in absorbing water & minerals, by producing a network that covers the roots
of the plants & increases the effective surface area of the root system
● fungi release enzymes that free nutrients in the soil
● plants provide fungi w/ products of photosynthesis
● seeds of some plants, such as orchids, cannot germinate in the absence of mycorrhizal fungi
● mycorrhizal relationships are often very specialized
● roots of each plant are plugged into mycorrhizal networks that connect many plants of same
and diff. species
● carbons atoms from one tree often end up in another nearby tree