CHAPTER 5
Fungi
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Overview
• Fungi are diverse and widespread
• They are essential for the well-being of most
terrestrial ecosystems because they break
down organic material and recycle vital
nutrients
• Despite their diversity, fungi share key traits,
most importantly the way in which they derive
nutrition
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Nutrition and Ecology
• Fungi are heterotrophs and absorb nutrients
from outside of their body
• Fungi use enzymes to break down a large
variety of complex molecules into smaller
organic compounds
• Fungi exhibit diverse lifestyles:
– Decomposers (Saprotrophs)
– Parasites
– Symbionts
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Body Structure
• The most common body structures are
multicellular filaments and single cells (yeasts)
• Some species grow as either filaments or
yeasts; others grow as both
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Morphology
• The morphology of multicellular fungi
enhances their ability to absorb nutrients
• Fungi consist of mycelia , networks of
branched hyphae adapted for absorption
• Most fungi have cell walls made of chitin
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Reproductive structure
Hyphae
Spore-producing
structures
20 µm
Mycelium
• Some fungi have hyphae divided into cells by
septa, with pores allowing cell-to-cell
movement of organelles
• Coenocytic fungi lack septa
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Cell wall
Nuclei Cell wall
Pore
Septum Nuclei
(a) Septate hypha (b) Coenocytic hypha
(a) Septate hypha
(b) Coenocytic hypha
Specialized Hyphae in Mycorrhizal Fungi
• Some unique fungi have specialized hyphae
called haustoria (giác mút) that allow them to
penetrate the tissues of their host
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Hyphae
Nematode 25 µm
(a) Hyphae adapted for trapping and killing prey
Plant
Fungal hypha cell
wall
Plant cell
Plant cell
plasma
Haustorium membrane
(b) Haustoria
• Mycorrhizae are mutually beneficial
relationships between fungi and plant roots
• Ectomycorrhizal fungi form sheaths of hyphae
over a root and also grow into the extracellular
spaces of the root cortex
• Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi extend hyphae
through the cell walls of root cells and into
tubes formed by invagination of the root cell
membrane
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Reproduction
• Fungi propagate themselves by producing vast
numbers of spores, either sexually or asexually
• Fungi can produce spores from different types
of life cycles
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Sexual Reproduction
• Fungal nuclei are normally haploid, with the
exception of transient diploid stages formed
during the sexual life cycles
• Sexual reproduction requires the fusion of
hyphae from different mating types
• Fungi use sexual signaling molecules called
pheromones to communicate their mating type
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• Plasmogamy is the union of two parent
mycelia
• In most fungi, the haploid nuclei from each
parent do not fuse right away; they coexist in
the mycelium, called a heterokaryon
• In some fungi, the haploid nuclei pair off two
to a cell; such a mycelium is said to be
dikaryotic
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• Hours, days, or even centuries may pass before
the occurrence of karyogamy, nuclear fusion
• During karyogamy, the haploid nuclei fuse,
producing diploid cells
• The diploid phase is short-lived and undergoes
meiosis, producing haploid spores
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Key
Haploid (n)
Heterokaryotic
(unfused nuclei from
different parents)
Diploid (2n)
Spore-producing
structures
Spores
ASEXUAL Mycelium
REPRODUCTION
GERMINATION
Key
Haploid (n) Heterokaryotic
Heterokaryotic stage
(unfused nuclei from PLASMOGAMY
different parents) (fusion of cytoplasm)
Diploid (2n)
KARYOGAMY
Spore-producing (fusion of nuclei)
structures
Zygote
Spores SEXUAL
REPRODUCTION
ASEXUAL Mycelium
REPRODUCTION
GERMINATION
Key
Haploid (n) Heterokaryotic
Heterokaryotic stage
(unfused nuclei from PLASMOGAMY
different parents) (fusion of cytoplasm)
Diploid (2n)
KARYOGAMY
Spore-producing (fusion of nuclei)
structures
Zygote
Spores SEXUAL
REPRODUCTION
ASEXUAL Mycelium
REPRODUCTION
MEIOSIS
GERMINATION GERMINATION
Spores
Asexual Reproduction
• In addition to sexual reproduction, many fungi
can reproduce asexually
• Molds produce haploid spores by mitosis and
form visible mycelia
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2.5 µm
• Other fungi that can reproduce asexually are
yeasts, which inhabit moist environments
• Instead of producing spores, yeasts reproduce
asexually by simple cell division and the
pinching of “bud cells” from a parent cell
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10 µm
Parent
cell
Bud
• Many molds and yeasts have no known sexual
stage
• Mycologists have traditionally called these
deuteromycetes, or imperfect fungi
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Fungal diversity
• Molecular analyses have helped clarify
evolutionary relationships among fungal
groups, although areas of uncertainty remain
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The phylogeny of fungi
Zygote Arbuscular Sac Club
Chytrids fungi mycorrhizal fungi fungi
fungi
Basidiomycota
Glomeromycota
Zygomycota
Ascomycota
Chytridiomycota
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Hyphae 25 µm
Chytrids (1,000 species)
Zygomycetes (1,000 species)
Fungal hypha
Glomeromycetes (160 species)
Ascomycetes (65,000 species)
Basidiomycetes (30,000 species)
Chytrids
• Chytrids (phylum Chytridiomycota) are found
in freshwater and terrestrial habitats
• They can be decomposers, parasites, or
mutualists
• Molecular evidence supports the hypothesis
that chytrids diverged early in fungal
evolution
• Chytrids are unique among fungi in having
flagellated spores, called zoospores
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Flagellum
Flagellum
4 µm
• Until recently, systematists thought that fungi
lost flagella only once in their evolutionary
history
• Molecular data indicate that some “chytrids”
are actually more closely related to another
fungal group, the zygomycetes; chytrids are a
paraphyletic group
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Zygomycetes
• The zygomycetes (phylum Zygomycota)
exhibit great diversity of life histories
• They include fast-growing molds, parasites,
and commensal symbionts
• The zygomycetes are named for their sexually
produced zygosporangia
• Zygosporangia, which are resistant to freezing
and drying, can survive unfavorable
conditions
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• The life cycle of black bread mold (Rhizopus
stolonifer) is fairly typical of the phylum
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• Some zygomycetes, such as Pilobolus, can
actually “aim” their sporangia toward
conditions associated with good food sources
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Glomeromycetes
• The glomeromycetes (phylum
Glomeromycota) were once considered
zygomycetes
• They are now classified in a separate clade
• Glomeromycetes form arbuscular mycorrhizae
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Ascomycetes
• Ascomycetes (phylum Ascomycota) live in
marine, freshwater, and terrestrial habitats
• The phylum is defined by production of sexual
spores in saclike asci, usually contained in
fruiting bodies called ascocarps
• Ascomycetes are commonly called sac fungi
• Ascomycetes vary in size and complexity from
unicellular yeasts to elaborate cup fungi and
morels
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Morchella esculenta,
the tasty morel
Tuber melanosporum, a truffle
Peziza badia
Aspergillus
• Ascomycetes include plant pathogens,
decomposers, and symbionts
• Ascomycetes reproduce asexually by
enormous numbers of asexual spores called
conidia
• Conidia are not formed inside sporangia; they
are produced asexually at the tips of
specialized hyphae called conidiophores
• Neurospora is a model organism with a well-
studied genome
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Neurospora crassa
Basidiomycetes
• Basidomycetes (phylum Basidiomycota)
include mushrooms, puffballs, and shelf fungi,
mutualists, and plant parasites
• The phylum is defined by a clublike structure
called a basidium, a transient diploid stage in
the life cycle
• The basidiomycetes are also called club fungi
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Maiden veil fungus (Dictyphora)
Puffballs
Puffballs emitting
spores
Sheft fungi
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Amanita
Coprinus
Trametes
Tremella
Roles of Fungi
• Fungi play key roles in nutrient cycling, ecological
interactions, and human welfare
• Fungi interact with other organisms in many
ways
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Fungi as Decomposers
• Fungi are efficient decomposers
• They perform essential recycling of chemical
elements between the living and nonliving
world
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Fungi as Mutualists
• Fungi form mutualistic relationships with
plants, algae, cyanobacteria, and animals
• All of these relationships have profound
ecological effects
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Fungus-Plant Mutualisms
• Mycorrhizae are enormously important in
natural ecosystems and agriculture
• Plants harbor harmless symbiotic endophytes
that live inside leaves or other plant parts
• Endophytes make toxins that deter herbivores
and defend against pathogens
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Fungus-Animal Symbioses
• Some fungi share their digestive services with
animals
• These fungi help break down plant material in
the guts of cows and other grazing mammals
• Many species of ants and termites use the
digestive power of fungi by raising them in
“farms”
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Lichens
• A lichen is a symbiotic association between a
photosynthetic microorganism and a fungus in
which millions of photosynthetic cells are held
in a mass of fungal hyphae
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A fruticose (shrublike) lichen
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Crustose (encrusting) lichens
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A foliose (leaflike) lichen
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• The fungal component of a lichen is most often
an ascomycete
• Algae or cyanobacteria occupy an inner layer
below the lichen surface
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Ascocarp of fungus
Soredia
Fungal
hyphae Algal
layer
Algal cell
Fungal hyphae
• The algae provide carbon compounds,
cyanobacteria provide organic nitrogen, and
fungi provide the environment for growth
• The fungi of lichens can reproduce sexually
and asexually
• Asexual reproduction is by fragmentation or
the formation of soredia, small clusters of
hyphae with embedded algae
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• Lichens are important pioneers on new rock
and soil surfaces
• Lichens are sensitive to pollution, and their
death can be a warning that air quality is
deteriorating
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Fungi as Pathogens
• About 30% of known fungal species are
parasites or pathogens, mostly on or in plants
• Some fungi that attack food crops are toxic to
humans
• Animals are much less susceptible to parasitic
fungi than are plants
• The general term for a fungal infection in
animals is mycosis
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(a) Corn smut on corn
(b) Tar spot fungus on
maple leaves
(c) Ergots on rye
Practical Uses of Fungi
• Humans eat many fungi and use others to
make cheeses, alcoholic beverages, and bread
• Some fungi are used to produce antibiotics for
the treatment of bacterial infections, for
example the ascomycete Penicillium
• Genetic research on fungi is leading to
applications in biotechnology
– For example, insulin-like growth factor can be
produced in the fungus Saccharomyces cerevisiae
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Penicillium
Staphylococcus Penicillium
Zone of
inhibited
growth