Structure and Organization of Fungi

Introduction
Fungi are eukaryotic organisms that include microorganisms such as yeasts, moulds and
mushrooms. These organisms are classified under kingdom fungi.

The organisms found in Kingdom fungi contain a cell wall and are omnipresent. They are
classified as heterotrophs (saprotrophic and parasitic) among the living organisms.

To name a few – the appearance of black spots on bread left outside for some days, the
mushrooms and the yeast cells, which are commonly used for the production of beer and bread
are also fungi. They are also found in most skin infections and other fungal diseases.

If we observe carefully, all the examples that we cited involve moist conditions. Thus, we can
say that fungi usually grow in places which are moist and warm enough to support them.

Characteristics
1. Fungi are eukaryotic, non-vascular, non-motile and heterotrophic organisms.
2. They may be unicellular or filamentous.
3. They reproduce by means of spores.
4. Fungi exhibit the phenomenon of alternation of generation.
5. Fungi lack chlorophyll and hence cannot perform photosynthesis.
6. Fungi store their food in the form of starch.
7. Biosynthesis of chitin occurs in fungi.
8. The nuclei of the fungi are very small.
9. The fungi have no embryonic stage. They develop from the spores.
10. The mode of reproduction is sexual or asexual.
11. Some fungi are parasitic and can infect the host.
12. Fungi produce a chemical called pheromone which leads to sexual reproduction in fungi.

Examples include mushrooms, moulds, and yeast.

Types of fungi
Fungi are subdivided on the basis of their life cycles, the presence or structure of their fruiting
body and the arrangement of and type of spores (reproductive or distributional cells) they
produce.
The three major groups of fungi are:

1. Multicellular filamentous moulds.

2. Macroscopic filamentous fungi that form large fruiting bodies. Sometimes the group is
referred to as ‘mushrooms’, but the mushroom is just the part of the fungus we see
above ground which is also known as the fruiting body.
3. Single celled microscopic yeasts.
.

Multicellular filamentous moulds

Moulds are made up of very fine threads (hyphae). Hyphae grow at the tip and divide repeatedly
along their length creating long and branching chains. The hyphae keep growing and
intertwining until they form a network of threads called a mycelium. Digestive enzymes are
secreted from the hyphal tip. These enzymes break down the organic matter found in the soil
into smaller molecules which are used by the fungus as food.

Some of the hyphal branches grow into the air and spores form on these aerial branches.
Spores are specialised structures with a protective coat that shields them from harsh
environmental conditions such as drying out and high temperatures. They are so small that
between 500 – 1000 could fit on a pin head.

Spores are similar to seeds as they enable the fungus to reproduce. Wind, rain or insects
spread spores. They eventually land in new habitats and if conditions are right, they start to
grow and produce new hyphae. As fungi can’t move they use spores to find a new environment
where there are fewer competing organisms.

Macroscopic filamentous fungi

Macroscopic filamentous fungi also grow by producing a mycelium below ground. They differ
from moulds because they produce visible fruiting bodies (commonly known as mushrooms or
toadstools) that hold the spores. The fruiting body is made up of tightly packed hyphae which
divide to produce the different parts of the fungal structure, for example the cap and the stem.
Gills underneath the cap are covered with spores and a 10 cm diameter cap can produce up to
100 million spores per hour.

Yeasts
Yeasts are small, lemon-shaped single cells that are about the same size as red blood cells.
They multiply by budding a daughter cell off from the original parent cell. Scars can be seen on
the surface of the yeast cell where buds have broken off. Yeasts such as Saccharomyces play
an important role in the production of bread and in brewing. Yeasts are also one of the most
widely used model organisms for genetic studies, for example in cancer research. Other species
of yeast such as Candida are opportunistic pathogens and cause infections in individuals who
do not have a healthy immune system.

Structure
Topics-
1. Hyphae (basics and organization into mycelium, mycelial strand, mycelial cords, and
rhizomorphs), rhizoids and septa
(https://www.britannica.com/science/fungus/Form-and-function-of-fungi)
(https://www.britannica.com/science/fungus/Structure-of-the-thallus)
2. Fruiting Bodies and Dimorphs
3. Cell wall (structure and synthesis)
4. Cell organelles and their function in growth
(https://www.britannica.com/science/fungus/Growth)
5. Spores
(https://www.britannica.com/science/fungus/Sporophores-and-spores)

The structure of fungi can be explained in the following points:

1. Almost all the fungi have a filamentous structure except the yeast cells.
2. They can be either single-celled or multicellular organisms.
3. Fungi consist of long thread-like structures known as hyphae. These hyphae together
form a mesh-like structure called mycelium.
4. Fungi possess a cell wall which is made up of chitin and polysaccharides.
5. The cell wall comprises protoplast which is differentiated into other cell parts such as
cell membrane, cytoplasm, cell organelles and nuclei.
6. The nucleus is dense, clear, with chromatin threads. The nucleus is surrounded by a
nuclear membrane.

Because fungi are heterotrophic, they obtain their nutrients by colonizing their substrates with a
vegetative mass of hyphae called mycelium. These hyphae secrete enzymes that digest
nutrients locked in colonized substrates, after which the nutrients are then absorbed by the
hyphae. Not only do hyphae constitute the mycelium of fungi, but they also form other structures
– mycelial strand, mycelial cords, and rhizomorphs – through which fungi are able to spread in
their environment in search of new substrates to colonize.

Except for yeasts, which grow as single cells, most fungi grow as thread-like filaments, like
those shown in Figure below. The filaments are called hyphae (singular, hypha). Each hypha
consists of one or more cells surrounded by a tubular cell wall. A mass of hyphae make up the
body of a fungus, which is called a mycelium (plural, mycelia).
The hyphae of most fungi are divided into cells by internal walls called septa (singular, septum).
Septa usually have little pores that are large enough to allow ribosomes, mitochondria and
sometimes nuclei to flow among cells. Hyphae that are divided into cells are called septate
hyphae. However, the hyphae of some fungi are not separated by septa. Hyphae without septae
are called coenocytic hyphae. Coenocytic hyphae are big, multinucleated cells.

A mycelium may range in size from microscopic to very large. In fact, one of the largest living
organisms on Earth is the mycelium of a single fungus. A small part of a similar fungus is
pictured in Figure below. The giant fungus covers 8.9 square kilometers (3.4 square miles) in an
Oregon forest. That’s about the size of a small city. The fungus didn’t grow that large overnight.
It’s estimated to be 2,400 years old, and it’s still growing!

Fruiting Bodies
Some fungi become noticeable only when producing spores (fruiting), either as mushrooms or
molds. For example, you can see the fruiting bodies of the Armillaria fungus in the Figure above,
but the large “body” of the fungus, the mycelium, is hidden underground. This fruiting body,
known as the sporocarp, is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures form.
The fruiting body is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cycle. The rest of the life cycle is
characterized by the growth of mycelia.

Dimorphic Fungi
Some fungi take on different shapes, depending on their environmental conditions. These fungi
are called dimorphic fungi, because they have “two forms.” For example, the fungus
Histoplasma capsulatum, which causes the disease histoplasmosis, is thermally dimorphic; it
has two forms that are dependent on temperature. In temperatures of about 25°C, it grows as a
brownish mycelium, and looks like a mass of threads. At body temperature (37°C in humans), it
grows as single, round yeast cells.