BIOL101: Microbiology

MYCOLOGY

Dr. ST Gumbi
Office: F3-level 3- Room 040

INSPIRING GREATNESS
 • Fungi
– Are diverse and widespread
– Are essential for the well-being of most terrestrial
ecosystems because they break down organic
material and recycle vital nutrients

Figure 31.1

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 • Fungi are heterotrophs that feed
by absorption = saprophytes

• Despite their diversity, fungi share

some key traits

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 Nutrition and Fungal Lifestyles

• Fungi are heterotrophs

– But do not ingest their food
• Fungi secrete into their surroundings
exoenzymes that break down complex
molecules
– And then absorb the remaining smaller
compounds

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 – Fungi exhibit diverse lifestyles:
• Decomposers
• Parasites
• Mutualistic symbionts

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 Body Structure
• The morphology of multicellular fungi
– Enhances their ability to absorb nutrients from
their surroundings
Reproductive structure.

The mushroom produces

tiny cells called spores.

Hyphae. The mushroom and its

subterranean mycelium are a continuous

network of hyphae.

Spore-producing

structures

20 m

Mycelium
Figure 31.2
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 • Fungi consist of
– Mycelia, networks of branched hyphae
adapted for absorption
• Most fungi
– Have cell walls made of chitin

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 • Some fungi
– Have hyphae divided into cells by septa, with
pores allowing cell-to-cell movement of
materials
• Coenocytic fungi
– Lack septa

Cell wall
Cell wall
Nuclei
Pore

Septum
Nuclei

(a) Septate hypha (b) Coenocytic hypha

Figure 31.3a, b
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 • Some unique fungi
– Have specialized hyphae that allow them to
penetrate the tissues of their host
Nematode Hyphae 25 m

(a) Hyphae adapted for trapping and killing prey

Fungal hypha Plant

cell
wall

Plant cell
Plant cell
(b) Haustoria Haustorium plasma
membrane
Figure 31.4a, b
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 • Mycorrhizae
– Are mutually beneficial relationships between
fungi and plant roots

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 • Fungi produce spores through sexual or
asexual life cycles
• Fungi propagate themselves
– By producing vast numbers of spores, either
sexually or asexually

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 • The generalized life cycle of fungi

Key

Haploid (n) Heterokaryotic

stage
Heterokaryotic
(unfused nuclei from PLASMOGAMY
different parents) (fusion of cytoplasm)
Diploid (2n)
KARYOGAMY
(fusion of nuclei)
Spore-producing
structures
SEXUAL Zygote
REPRODUCTION
Spores
ASEXUAL Mycelium
REPRODUCTION

MEIOSIS
GERMINATION
GERMINATION
Spore-producing
structures
Spores
Figure 31.5
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 Sexual Reproduction
• The sexual life cycle involves
– Cell fusion, plasmogamy
– Nuclear fusion, karyogamy
• An intervening heterokaryotic stage
– Occurs between plasmogamy and karyogamy
in which cells have haploid nuclei from two
parents

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 • The diploid phase following karyogamy
– Is short-lived and undergoes meiosis,
producing haploid spores

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 Asexual Reproduction

• Many fungi can reproduce asexually by:

– Fragmentation of hyphae
– Production of spores

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 • Many fungi that can reproduce asexually
– Grow as mold, sometimes on fruit, bread, and
other foods

2.5 m

Figure 31.6

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 • Other asexual fungi are yeasts
– That inhabit moist environments
– Which produce by simple cell division
10 m

Parent cell

Bud

Figure 31.7
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 • Many molds and yeasts have no known sexual
stage
– Mycologists have traditionally called these
deuteromycetes, or imperfect fungi

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 • Fungi descended from an aquatic,
single-celled, flagellated protist
• Systematists now recognize Fungi and
Animalia as sister kingdoms
– Because fungi and animals are
more closely related to each other
than they are to plants or other
eukaryotes

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 The Origin of Fungi
• Molecular evidence
– Supports the hypothesis that fungi and animals
diverged from a common ancestor that was
that they are unicellular and bore flagella
• Fungi probably evolved
– Before the colonization of land by multicellular
organisms

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 The Move to Land
• Fungi were among the earliest colonizers of
land
– Probably as symbionts with early land plants

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 • Fungi have radiated into a diverse set of
lineages
• The phylogeny (classification) of fungi
– Is currently the subject of much research
• Molecular analysis
– Has helped clarify the evolutionary
relationships between fungal groups, although
there are still areas of uncertainty

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 • The phylogeny of fungi
Zygote Arbuscular Sac Club
Chytrids fungi mycorrhizal fungi fungi
fungi

Basidiomycota
Glomeromycota
Zygomycota

Ascomycota
Chytridiomycota

Figure 31.9
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 • A review of fungal phyla

Table 31.1
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 Chytrids
• Fungi classified in the phylum
Chytridiomycota, or chytrids
– Are found in freshwater and terrestrial habitats
– Can be saprobic or parasitic

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 • Chytrids are unique among fungi
– In having flagellated spores, called zoospores
25 m
Hyphae

Flagellum

4 m

Figure 31.10
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 • Until recently, systematists thought that
– Fungi lost flagella only once in their history
• Molecular data
– Indicate that some “chytrids” are actually more
closely related to another fungal group, the
zygomycetes
Glomeromycetes,

ascomycetes, and
Some Zygomycetes and other chytrids
basidiomycetes
chytrids

Key

Common ancestor Loss of

Figure 31.11 flagella

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 Zygomycetes

• Fungi in the phylum Zygomycota, the

zygomycetes
– Exhibit a considerable diversity of life histories
– Include fast-growing molds, parasites, and
commensal symbionts
– Are named for their sexually produced
zygosporangia

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 • The life cycle of Rhizopus stolonifer
– Is fairly typical of zygomycetes
Mycelia have
1
various mating types Neighboring mycelia of different
2
(here designated +, Key
mating types form hyphal extensions
with red nuclei, and , called gametangia, each walled off Haploid (n)

with blue nuclei). Heterokaryotic (n + n)

around several haploid nuclei by a septum.
Diploid
A heterokaryotic
3
zygosporangium

forms, containing

multiple haploid

nuclei from the two

PLASMOGAMY
Rhizopus parents.
Mating
growing Gametangia with
Mating
type (+)
on bread haploid nuclei
type ()
100 m
The spores Young
8
Mycelia can also reproduce germinate and
9 zygosporangium
asexually by forming sporangia grow into new (heterokaryotic)
that produce genetically identical haploid spores. SEXUAL
mycelia.
REPRODUCTION
Dispersal and
Sporangia The sporangium
7 Zygosporangium
germination KARYOGAMY
disperses genetically (heterokaryotic)
diverse, haploid spores.
Diploid This cell develops a
Sporangium 4
nuclei rough, thick-walled
ASEXUAL
MEIOSIS coating that can resist
REPRODUCTION
dry environments and
Dispersal and
other harsh conditions
germination
for months.
50 m Mycelium

When conditions are favourable,

5
karyogamy occurs, followed by
The zygosporangium
6 meiosis.
then breaks dormancy,
Figure 31.12 germinating into a

short sporangium.

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 • Some zygomycetes, such as Pilobolus
– Can actually “aim” their sporangia toward
conditions associated with good food sources

Figure 31.13 0.5 mm

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 • Zygosporangia, which are resistant to freezing
and drying
– Are capable of persisting through unfavorable
conditions
– Can undergo meiosis when conditions improve

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 Microsporidia
• Microsporidia
– Are unicellular parasites of animals and
protists
– Are now classified as zygomycetes
10 m

Host cell
nucleus

Developing
microsporidian

Spore

Figure 31.14
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 Glomeromycetes
• Fungi assigned to the phylum Glomeromycota
– Were once considered zygomycetes
– Are now classified in a separate clade

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 • All glomeromycetes
– Form a distinct type of endomycorrhizae called
arbuscular mycorrhizae
2.5 m

Figure 31.15
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 Ascomycetes

• Fungi in the phylum Ascomycota

– Are found in a variety of marine, freshwater,
and terrestrial habitats
– Are defined by the production of sexual spores
in saclike asci (ascus), which are usually
contained in fruiting bodies called ascocarps

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 • Ascomycetes
– Vary in size and complexity from unicellular
yeasts to elaborate cup fungi and morels

(a) The cup-shaped ascocarps (fruiting bodies)

of Aleuria aurantia give this species its
common name: orange peel fungus.
(b) The edible ascocarp of
Morchella esculenta, the
succulent morel, is often
found under trees in orchards.

10 m

(c) Tuber melanosporum is a truffle, an ascocarp that grows (d) Neurospora crassa feeds as
underground and emits strong odors. These ascocarps
Figure 31.16a–d
a mold on bread and other
have been dug up and the middle one sliced open. food (SEM).

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 • Ascomycetes reproduce
– Asexually by producing enormous numbers of
asexual spores called conidia

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 • The life cycle of Neurospora crassa, an
ascomycete
7 Ascomycete mycelia 1 Neurospora can reproduce Key
Conidia;
can also reproduce sexually by producing specialized
mating type () Haploid (n)
asexually by producing hyphae. Conidia of the opposite
haploid conidia. mating type fuse to these hyphae. Dikaryotic (n  n)
Diploid (2n)

Dispersal
Germination
Mating
ASEXUAL type ()
REPRODUCTION Mycelium
PLASMOGAMY
2 A dikaryotic
ascus develops.
Ascogonium Ascus
(dikaryotic)
Mycelia
Conidiophore
Dikaryotic
hyphae

SEXUAL
Germination REPRODUCTION KARYOGAMY

Dispersal 3 Karyogamy
Diploid nucleus occurs within the
Eight (zygote) ascus, producing a
6 The developing asci Asci ascospores diploid nucleus.
are contained in an
ascocarp. The ascospores
are discharged forcibly
from the asci through an
Four
opening in the ascocarp.
haploid
Germinating ascospores
nuclei
give rise to new mycelia. MEIOSIS

Ascocarp

5 Each haploid nucleus divides 4 The diploid nucleus

divides by meiosis, yielding
once by mitosis, yielding eight
four haploid nuclei.
Figure 31.17 nuclei. Cell walls develop around
the nuclei, forming ascospores (LM).

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 Basidiomycetes
• Fungi in the phylum Basidiomycota
– Include mushrooms and shelf fungi
– Are defined by a clublike structure called a
basidium, a transient diploid stage in the life
cycle

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 • Basidiomycetes

(b) Maiden veil fungus (Dictyphora),

a fungus with an odor like rotting
meat

(a) Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria), a

common species in conifer forests in
the northern hemisphere

(d) Puffballs emitting spores

Figure 31.18a–d (c) Shelf fungi, important decomposers of

wood

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 • The life cycle of a basidiomycete
– Usually includes a long-lived dikaryotic
mycelium, which can erect its fruiting structure,
a mushroom, in just a few hours

Figure 31.19
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 • The life cycle of a mushroom-forming
basidiomycete
2 A dikaryotic mycelium forms,
1 Two haploid mycelia growing faster then, and ultimately
of different mating types crowding out, the haploid parental mycelia.
undergo plasmogamy.

3 Environmental
PLASMOGAMY Dikaryotic
cues such as rain or
mycelium
temperature changes
induce the dikaryotic
mycelium to form
8 In a suitable compact masses that
environment, the Mating
develop into
basidiospores type ()
basidiocarps
germinate and Mating (mushrooms, in this
grow into type () case).
short-lived Haploid
haploid mycelia. mycelia Gills lined
SEXUAL with basidia
REPRODUCTION Basidiocarp
(dikaryotic)

Dispersal
and
7 When mature, germination
the basidiospores
are ejected, fall
from the cap, and Basidiospores
are dispersed by
the wind.
Basidium with Basidia
four appendages (dikaryotic)

Basidium Basidium containing

four haploid nuclei 4 The basidiocarp
gills are lined with
KARYOGAMY terminal dikaryotic
cells called basidia.
MEIOSIS

6 Each diploid nucleus

yields four haploid
nuclei. Each basidium
Key
grows four appendages, Diploid
and one haploid nucleus nuclei 5 Karyogamy in the Haploid (n)
enters each appendage basidia produces diploid
1 m Basidiospore Dikaryotic (n  n)
and develops into a nuclei, which then
Figure 31.20 basidiospore (SEM). undergo meiosis. Diploid (2n)

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