“You can not change your future, but you can change your habits

and surely your habits will change your future”

FUNDAMENTALS OF PLANT PATHOLOGY

PTH213

Dr. Nikunj Sohaliya

Department of Plant Pathology, LPU
 Unit II
Introduction of Fungi
 General characters, definition and somatic structures
 Types of fungal thalli, fungal tissues and modifications of thallus
 Reproduction (asexual and sexual)
 Nomenclature: binomial system of nomenclature and rules
 Classification of fungi: key to divisions, sub-divisions, orders, classes
 Diseases caused by them.
 REPRODUCTION IN FUNGI
 Reproduction is the formation of new individuals having all the
characteristics of the species.

 The fungi reproduce by means of asexual and sexual or

parasexual reproduction.

 Asexual reproduction is sometimes called somatic or vegetative

and it does not involve union of nuclei, sex cells or sex organs.

 The union of two nuclei characterizes sexual reproduction.

 Types of Reproduction
1. Asexual /non-sexual / vegetative / somatic
reproduction
2. Sexual reproduction / parasexual.
 1. ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION
 Asexual reproduction stage is also known as
imperfect stage and technically called as
anamorphic stage.
 There is no union of nuclei /sex cells/ sex
organs.
 It is repeated several times during the life
span of a fungus producing numerous
 Hence, it is more important for fungi than
sexual reproduction.
 Asexual spores are formed after mitosis,
hence also called mitospores.
 Methods of asexual
reproduction
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link] (production of
spores)
 1. Fragmentation

 It is the most common

method.
 Hypha of fungus breaks into
small pieces, each broken
piece is called a fragment,
which function as a
propagating unit and
 The spores produced by
fragmentation are called
arthrospores (arthron:
joint) (spora: seed) or
oidia.
 Examples: Oidium sp.,
Geotrichum sp.
 Sometimes, the contents of
intercalary cells or
terminal cells of hypha
rounded off and surrounded
by thick wall and formed as
chlamydospores which are
resistant spores produced
either singly or in chains.
 Examples: Fusarium
oxysporum, Ustilago tritici.
 Gemmae are specialized thick walled aggregation
of chlamydospres like structures.
 They are formed in un-favourable conditions,
Example: Saprolegnia sp.
 Sclerotia
 Rhizomorphs
 2. Fission / Transverse fission
The parent cell elongates, nucleus under go
mitotic division and forms two nuclei, then
the contents divide into equal halves by
the formation of a transverse septum and
separates into two daughter cells.
Example: Saccharomyces cerevisiae
 3. Budding
 The spores formed through budding are called
blastospores.
 The parent cell puts out initially a small out growth
called bud/blasto i.e., sprout or out growth which
increases in size and nucleus divides.
 One daughter nucleus accompanied by a portion of
cytoplasm migrates into bud and the other
nucleus remains in the parent cell.
 Later, the bud increases in size and a
constriction is formed at the base of bud, cutting
off completely from parent cell.
 Bud, when separated from parent cell, can
function as an independent propagating unit.
 Sometimes multiple buds are also seen i.e.,
bud over bud and looks like pseudomycelium.
 Example: Saccharomyces cerevisiae
 4. Sporulation
The process of production of spores is called
sporulation
Spore:
 It is a reproductive cell capable of developing into
a new individual without fusion with another
reproductive cell. Spores are agents of asexual
reproduction.
 Spores vary in colour, size, number of cells and the
Types of spores:
I. Sporangiospores
II. Conidiospores
I. Sporangiospores:
 When the asexual spores are produced
internally, within the sporangium (a sac
like structure) such spores are called
sporangiospores.
 The special hypha bearing sporangium (Plural:
Sporangia) is called as sporangiophore.
 Sporangium which is cylindrical in shape is
Sporangiospores are of 2 types:
 Zoospores/planospores: Sporangiospores which are
motile by flagella are called zoospores or planospores.
Examples: Pythium sp., Phytophthora sp.
 Aplanospores: Sporangiospores which are non motile
(without flagella) are called aplanospores. Examples:
Rhizopus stolonifer, Mucor sp.
II. Conidiospores/ Conidia (konis: dust; oides:
like)

Conidia are non-motile, asexual spores which

may arise directly from somatic hyphae or from
specialized conidiogenous cells (a cell from
which conidia are produced) or on conidiophore
(hypha which bear conidia).
 Conidia are produced freely on conidiophore
i.e., at the tips or sides of conidiophore or
may be produced in specialized asexual
fruiting bodies viz., pycnidium, acervulus,
sporodochium and synnemata.
 Asexual fruiting bodies
(a) Pycnidium (pl. pycnidia):
 It is a globose or flask shaped
fruiting body lined inside with
conidiophores which produce
conidia.
 It may be completely closed or
may have an opening called ostiole.
 Pycnidium may be provided with
small papillum or long neck.
(b) Acervulus (pl. acervuli):
 A flat or saucer shaped fruiting
body with a stromatic mat of
hyphae producing conidia on
short conidiophores.
 An acervulus lacks a definite
wall structure and not
having an ostiole or definite
line of dehiscence.
 Example: Colletotrichum
(c) Sporodochium (pl.
sporodochia):
A cushion shaped asexual
fruiting body.
 Conidiophores arise from a
central stroma and they are
woven together on a mass of
hyphae and produce conidia.
 Example: Fusarium oxysporum
(d) Synnemata (pl. synnema):
 A group of conidiophores
often united at the base and
free at the top.
 Conidia may be formed at
its tip or along the length of
synnema, resembling a long
handled feather duster.
 Example: Graphium sp.