Fungi—Molds and Yeasts

Definition
• The fungi (singular, fungus) are a group of eucaryotic organisms that
are of great practical and scientific interest to microbiologists
• The gross appearance of many multicellular fungi is familiar
• Velvety blue-and-green growth on rotting oranges and lemons as well as on
stale cheeses
• The whitish-gray furry outgrowths on bread and jam, and the mushrooms in
the fields
• Fungi have a diversity of morphological appearances, depending on
the species
Definition
• Fungi comprise the molds and yeasts
• Molds are filamentous and multicellular
• Yeasts are usually unicellular
• Fungi are eucaryotic spore-bearing protists that lack chlorophyll
• They generally reproduce both sexually and asexually
THE IMPORTANCE OF FUNGI
• The fungi are heterotrophic organisms
• They require organic compounds for nutrition
• When they feed on dead organic matter, they are known as
saprophytes
• Saprophytes decompose complex plant and animal remains, breaking them
down into simpler chemical substances that are returned to the soil, thereby
increasing its fertility
• They can be quite beneficial to humans
• Can also be undesirable when they decompose timber, textiles, food,
and other materials
THE IMPORTANCE OF FUNGI
• Saprophytic fungi are also important in industrial fermentations:
• The brewing of beer, the making of wine, and the production of antibiotics
such as penicillin
• The leavening of dough and the ripening of some cheeses also depend on
fungal activity
• As parasites (i.e., when living in or on another organism), fungi cause
diseases in plants, humans, and other animals
• Fungal diseases are less commonly encountered than bacterial or virus
diseases in humans and other animals
• They are of great importance in causing diseases of plants
THE IMPORTANCE OF FUNGI
• The science or study of fungi is called mycology
• Fungi have also become tools for the physiologist, biophysicist,
geneticist, and biochemist
• They find them highly suitable subjects for the study of some
biological processes
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTIS
OF FUNGI
• Fungi are eucaryotic chemoorganotrophic organisms that have no
chlorophyll
• The thallus (plural, thalli) or body of a fungus may consist of a single
cell as in the yeasts
• More typically the thallus consists of filaments, 5 to 10µm across,
which are commonly branched
• The yeast cell or mold filament is surrounded by a true cell wall
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTIS
OF FUNGI
• The exception being the slime molds, which have a thallus consisting
of a naked amoeboid mass of protoplasm
• Some fungi are dimorphic; that is, they exist in two forms
• Some pathogenic fungi of humans and other animals have a unicellular
and yeastlike form in their host
• But when growing saprophytically in soil or on a laboratory medium
they have a filamentous mold form
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTIS
OF FUNGI
• The opposite dimorphic phenomenon occurs in some plant pathogens.
In Tophrina (which causes peach leaf curl) or in smuts (which cause
diseases of cereal crops), the mycelial form occurs in the host and the
unicellular yeastlike form occurs in laboratory culture
• Thus a fungal colony may be a mass of yeast cells (not unlike a
bacterial colony except for surface texture), or it may be a filamentous
mat of mold