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Kingdom Fungi
Fungi differ from other organisms in structure,
reproduction, and in methods of obtaining nutrients.
Fungi are eukaryotic, nonphotosynthetic
organisms, and most are multicellular heterotrophs.
Most fungi are microscopic molds or yeasts.
Molds, such as the fungus that grows on
bread and oranges, are tangled masses of
filaments of cells.
Yeasts are unicellular organisms whose
colonies resemble those of bacteria.
Filaments of fungi are called hyphae.
The cell walls of hyphae contain chitin, a
complex polysaccharide .
The study of fungi is
called mycology.
Most fungi are saprophytic, that is, they live
on organic compounds that they absorb from
dead organisms in the environment.
This characteristic makes fungi a very
important recycler of organic material
in nature.
General Fungi Life Cycle
Zygomycota Life Cycle (Conjugation)
The first fungi were probably unicellular
organisms that might have clung together
after mitosis to form a long filament of cells.
All modern phyla of fungi had evolved by about
300 million years ago.
PHYLUM ZYGOMYCOTA
Pilobolus on horse dung
Rhizopus
PHYLUM BASIDIOMYCOTA
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Club fungus
PHYLUM ASCOMYCOTA
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sac fungi
distinguished by
saclike compartments
Organization
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Fungi are eukaryotic, non-photosynthetic
organisms.
Most are multicellular heterotrophs.
Most fungi are microscopic molds or
yeasts.
Yeasts are unicellular organisms.
Reproduction
Most fungi reproduce both sexually and asexually.
Asexually, fungi produce thousands of
genetically identical haploid spores, usually
on modified cells of the hyphae.
Asexual reproduction may also occur by fragmentation.
In this process, a hypha dries and shatters,
releasing individual cells that act as spores.
The fungus that causes athlete’s foot reproduces this
way.
Yeast reproduce by a process called budding.
Budding is an asexual process in which
part of a yeast cell pinches itself off to
produce a small offspring cell.
Many but not all species of fungi are also
able to reproduce sexually.
Fungi are neither male nor female. They
occur in mating types that are sometimes
called “minus” and “plus.”
When two different mating types of the same
species encounter one another, the hyphae of one
mating type fuse with the hyphae of the opposite
mating type.
The ability of some fungi to reproduce both
sexually and asexually provides an adaptive
advantage.
Habitat
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Grows on bread and foods like oranges.
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Armillaria lives underground and occupies a space
of up to eight hectares (861,000 ft2).
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Most fungi are saprophytic.
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Tree trunks or dead animals.
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Found primarily in soil.
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Fungi may infect the skin, hair, nails, and tissues
of the body.
Structure and Function
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Fungi have no sensory
system.
Fungi secrete digestive
enzymes and then
absorb the digested
nutrients.
Like animals, fungi
store energy in the
form of glycogen.
SUPPORT
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The cell walls of fungi cells contain chitin, a
complex polysaccharide not found in bacteria,
protists, or other microorganisms but found in
insects.
The
presence of
chitin distinguishes
cell walls of fungi
from those of plants.
Lichens
A lichen is a symbiosis. That means that it
is two or more organisms living together
such that both are more successful within
the partnership than they would have been
if they were living on their own.
With lichens the basic components of this
partnership are 1) a fungus called the
'mycobiont' and 2) one or more algae
and/or a cyanobacteria called the
'photobiont'.