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The Fungi . Main features/characteristics:. Heterotrophic saprobes – feed off of decaying material by secreting enzymes to break down into nutrients parasitic – feed off of living tissues
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Main features/characteristics: • Heterotrophic saprobes – feed off of decaying material by secreting enzymes to break down into nutrients • parasitic – feed off of living tissues • Cell walls made of chitin (protein that provides shape and support) . . . plant cell walls made of cellulose • Storage molecule made of glycogen, not starch (as is common with plants) • Sessile (stationary) • Multicellular • Eukaryotic
Morphology • Structure made up of strands called hyphae • Collection of hyphae called a mycelium • Multinucleated cells • Cells separated into sections called septa (cytoplasm flows freely between septa)
Life Cycle: • Both sexual and asexual reproduction can occur • Most cells are haploid (one copy of each chromosome) • Spores (reproductive cells) are dispersed • Hyphae grow from spores • Hyphae fuse to form dikaryotic cell (two unique nuclei in one cell) • Mycelium develops into mushroom • Haploid nuclei fuse to form a zygote (now diploid) • Zygote divides into 4 haploid spores • Cycle continues
Nutrient cycling: • main decomposers in ecosystems • Fixation of nutrients into soil and plant roots (symbiosis between plants and fungi = mycorrhizae)
Pathogenic: • 10 to 50% of global produce destroyed yearly by fungi • Toxic growth of materials in buildings • Wood rot
Commercial: • Edible versions of mushrooms and truffles • Cheese, chocolate, soy sauce • Antibiotics (pencillin)
Classification/Phylogeny: Five major phyla
Chytrids (chytridomycota) • Swimming spores (flagellated) • Saprophytic • Single or multicellular
Zygomycetes (zygomycota) • Bread and fruit molds • Soil fungi • Parasitic of insects
Glomeromycetes (Glomeromycota) • Mychorrhizal
Ascomycetes (Ascomycota) • Commercial yeasts • Cup fungi • Plant disease
Basidiomycetes (Basidiomycota) • Gilled mushrooms • Decomposers • Some symbiosis with plants
Mycorrhizae– fungi develop between cell walls of plant roots to deliver nitrogen and extract carbon sugars (mutualism + +)
Lichens – fungi cooperate with cyanobacteria or algae to provide moisture and in return get carbon sugars (mutualism + +)
Leaf cutter ants – harvest leaves to supply food for saprophytic fungi as a food source (mutualism + +)