Chapter 21

Kingdom Fungi
 20-1 Learning Targets
• What are the characteristics of Fungi?
• What is the internal structure of a fungus?
• How do fungi reproduce?
Fungi Characteristics
• VERY different from plants:
– No roots, stems or leaves
– Have no chlorophyll
• Eukaryotic heterotrophs with cell walls
– Cell wall made of CHITIN
– Digest food outside of body and THEN absorb it
through cell wall
• Some absorb nutrients from decaying matter
– Called Detritus Feeders
– Example of Detritus feeder: Club fungi/mushrooms
• Some live as parasites
– Example of Parasitic feeder: Ring worm
• Some live in symbiotic relationship that benefits both sides
 More Characteristics
• All fungi are multicellular (except yeast)
• Multicellular fungi are made of tiny filaments called hyphae
– Hyphae tangle together in a thick mass to form the mycelium or fungal
body
– Mycelium lies below the ground and the fruiting body or reproductive
structure is
above ground (the “mushroom”)
 Hyphae

Nuclei

Cell wall
Cytoplasm

Cross wall
Nuclei

Cytoplasm Cell wall

Hyphae With Cross Walls Hyphae Without Cross Walls

Kingdom Fungi

Fruiting Body
Hyphae

Mycelium
 Fairy Rings
• Some mycelia can live for
many years
– Over time, the nutrients at
the center of the mycelium
become depleted
– New mushrooms only
sprout at the edges of the
mycelium, causing a ring
• Called a “FAIRY RING”
 Reproduction in Fungi
• Fungi reproduce both sexually and asexually
• Fungi are classified according to their structure and method of
reproduction
• General Groups:
– Common Molds
– Sac Fungi
– Club Fungi
– Imperfect Fungi
 Fungi

are divided into the phyla

Zygomycota Ascomycota Basidiomycota Deuteromycota

includes includes includes includes

Common Imperfect
molds
Sac fungi Club fungi
fungi
 20-2 Learning Targets
• What are the characteristics of the four
major phyla of Fungus?
 Common Molds
• Phylum Zygomycota: called zygomycetes
– Common molds that grow on meat, cheese and bread
• Best Known Zygomycete:
– Rhizopus stolonifer (black bread mold)

• Structure
– The mycelium is the cottony white mass of a bread mold.
– The black balls at the top of the filaments are called SPORANGIA or spore cases.
– This fungus sends out filaments across the top of the bread.
– These filaments secrete digestive enzymes and absorb the digested food externally
Rhizopus
 Rhizopus Reproduction
• Rhizopus reproduces asexually by spore formation
– Each spore has a nucleus and is surrounded by a black
wall.
– The outer wall of the sporangium is very delicate and
easily torn.
• When torn, the exposed spores are quickly carried away by air
• The spores then grow and reproduce on a moist surface.

• The mold also reproduces sexually

– We will not learn this process in detail, you just need to
know that it is possible!
 Rhizopus Life Cycle

Zygospore (2N)

FERTILIZATION Sporangium

Gametangia Spores (N)

Sporangium MEIOSIS

Zygospore (2N)

+ Mating type (N)

Spores (N) Stolons
- Mating type (N)
Sporangiophore

Rhizoids Sexual Reproduction

Asexual Reproduction

Diploid
Haploid
 Sac Fungi
• Phylum Ascomycota: called Ascomycetes
– Named for the ASCUS, their reproductive structure that contains spores
– Largest Phylum of Kingdom Fungi
– Some ascomycetes such as cup fungi are visible on the ground, others like
yeasts are microscopic
– EXAMPLES: Morels, Truffles
 YEAST
• Yeast are unicellular fungi used by humans for baking
and brewing
– Cause bread to rise by producing CO2 in fermentation
• They can reproduce sexually and form ascospores
• They reproduce asexually by budding
– A bulge appears on the cell wall.
– The nucleus splits and moves into the bulge.
– The bulge grows but may remain attached to the
mother cell.
– Chains grow and may eventually break.
Yeast Budding
 Club Fungi
• Phylum Basidiomycota: called basidiomycetes or
club fungi
– Gets name from reproductive structure that
resembles a club (called a basidium)
– The cap of the basidiomycete (like a mushroom) is
made of tightly packed hyphae
• The lower side of the cap is made of GILLS
– Gills are thin blades of tissue lined with cells that produce
spores
– Spores are scattered to produce more mushrooms
– Examples: Mushrooms, Shelf Fungi, Puffballs,
Earthstars, jelly fungi
 Basidiomycete Life Cycle

Fruiting body (N + N)

Gills lined
with
basidia

Gills
Cap Stalk
Button
Base
Basidia
(N + N)
Secondary
mycelium (N + N) FERTILIZATION

HYPHAE FUSE
Primary mycelium (N) Zygote (2N)
- Mating type (N)

Haploid + Mating type (N) MEIOSIS

Diploid
Basidiospores (N)
 Basidiomycete Pictures

Puffballs
Shelf Fungi: form next to
dead/decaying trees
 Stinkhorns
• Stinkhorns are a family of basidiomycetes
– They produce a foul-scented mushroom
• Their method of reproduction is different than most mushrooms, which
use the air to spread their spores
– Stinkhorns produce a sticky spore mass on their tip which has an odor
that attracts flies
– The flies land on the stinkhorn and collect the spores on their legs and
carry it to other locations.
Stinkhorn
 Just a Warning
• Many types of fungi are delicacies and are cultivated for food
(Portabellas are yummy!)

• Many wild mushrooms are also edible, BUT many are POISONOUS
– Many species of edible mushrooms look identical to poisonous mushrooms

• Moral of the Story: Don’t pick and eat mushrooms unless you know
what you are doing!
 Imperfect Fungi
• Phylum Deuteromycota: called deuteromycetes or imperfect fungi

• Extremely diverse group– basically the misfit fungi

– Fungi go here when researchers have not found a sexual phase in their life
cycles

• EXAMPLES: Penicillium, Ringworm, Athlete’s Foot

 Penicillium
• Penicillium is mold that grows on fruit and is source of antibiotic

UP CLOSE!!!
Mold on an orange
 Importance of Fungi
• FOOD SOURCE
– Mushrooms
– Morels – a delicacy
– Yeast – used in baking and fermentation
– Truffles – very expensive delicacy

• MEDICINES:
– Penicillin – from Penicillium
– Cyclosporin – anti-rejection drug
Morels and Truffles
 Importance of Fungi
• DISEASES
– Ringworm-from deuteromycete
– Athlete’s foot fungus-from deuteromycete
– Thrush – Candida albicans
– Yeast infections
• Using antibiotics increases risk of yeast infections because the medicines kill helpful,
symbiotic bacteria in humans.
– Dutch elm disease
– Chestnut blight
Ringworm
 Importance of Fungi
• IN NATURE:
– Decompose and recycle detritus.
– Lichens – symbiotic relationship between a fungus and algae
(see p. 540)
• Usually neither can grow on their own
• Can grow in harsh environments due to relationship (fungus gets water,
minerals, and other carries out photosynthesis)
– Mycorrhizae –symbiotic relationships between plants and
fungi
• Fungus helps obtain more nutrients by increasing surface area (plant also
provides nutrients)
• About 90% of plants have a miycorrhizal relationship
– Fungi kill nematodes – a roundworm that attacks crops
Lichens