EEB331H – INTRODUCTION TO THE FUNGI (Fall 2010)

Instructor Jean-Marc Moncalvo <jeanmarcm@gmail.com>, 416-586-5522

Curator of Fungi, Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum, and Associate Professor, Departments of Ecology and Evolution and Cell &

Systems Biology, U. of T.

Teaching Assistant Melanie Croydon-Sugarman <m.croydon.sugarman@utoronto.ca> >

Teaching Technician Bill Cole <cole@eeb.utoronto.ca>

My research interests and current works in my lab

•  Molecular systematics (phylogenetics) of mushrooms; contribution to the assembly of the Fungal Tree of Life)

•  Species-level studies: Biogeographic relationships, species circumscription, taxonomy; particularly for mushrooms of ecological and/or economic importance (e.g., mycorrhizal and/or edible or medicinal species

•  DNA barcoding of fungi: the use of sequences from short DNA fragments for rapid identification

•  Documenting mushrooms from little explored habitats, particularly in the tropics

•  Documenting fungal diversity in the environment from the use of DNA-based methods

Course Organization

This course consists of (1) Lectures (including assigned reading) (2) Lab (3) Optional Field excursion?

Marks: 2 Tests, 25% each (lectures, journal articles, and lab material)

- typically 10 short questions (75%) and a short essay (25%) 2 Lab reports, 25% each

A Course Web site will post lecture notes and other information as the course progresses, so please consult it regularly.

http://courses.eeb.utoronto.ca/eeb331/

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Recent or landmark review articles and research papers will accompany the lectures. Useful source of information for the short essay in tests.

TEXTBOOKS

No textbook is required for the course. However, I use information from the following three books:

Alexopoulos, Mims, and Blackwell. 1996. Introductory Mycology.  4th Edition. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-52229-5 ���

Deacon. 2001. Modern Mycology.  3rd Edition. Blackwell Science.  ISBN 0-632-03077-1 ���

Kendrick. 2000. The Fifth Kingdom. 3rd Edition. Focus Publishing.  ISBN1-58510-022-6. 

.

Recommended field guide for mushrooms

Can be ordered from: http://www.amazon.ca/ Mushrooms-Northeast-North-America-Midwest/ dp/1551052016

Announcement:

Work-study position from the UofT Career Centre

Mycology herbarium at the ROM

Position no. 2011.WC.1459

www.careers.utoronto.ca

-  Should have qualified for OSAP assistance -  180 hours / $1919

BOT301 – INTRODUCTION TO THE FUNGI

- Course organization

- The Kingdom of Fungi

WELCOME TO THE KINGDOM OF FUNGI !

- Fungi are a morphologically, taxonomically, and ecologically very diverse group of organisms.

- Most fungi are cryptic organisms that spend most of their life cycle by producing undifferentiated vegetative hyphae (mycelium) often underground or buried in their host.

http://home.wanadoo.nl/abiemans/e_mycelium.html

Asexual reproduction

Sexual Reproduction (fructification) = Basis for taxonomy

Five major groups of Fungi are recognized

Chytridiomycetes (pic from Kendrick) Zygomycetes (pic from Kendrick) Glomeromycetes (pic from Kendrick)

Basidiomycetes

Ascomycetes

Fungi play major roles in terrestrial ecosystems as mutualists, parasites, and decomposers

Association with termite nests (pic. from D. Pegler),

Ectomycorrhizal association with tree roots (pic. from T. Bruns)

Nematode-trapping fungus (pic. from G. Barron)

Smut on corn

Wood decay (pic. from E. Barnatrd)

From Alexopoulos et al., 1996

Fungi and Humans: Friend and Foe

Source: Tree of Life Web Project, Nov. 2002: http://tolweb.org/tree/phylogeny.html!- Berbee & Taylor, Mycota, 2000!- Heckman et al., Science, 2001!

Fungi are now believed to be sister group of the animals Divergence time (origin of fungi): 900 myo - 1.5 byo

Number of known fungal species = 80,060 (Dictionary of fungi, 9th edition, 2001)

Estimated number of species : 1.5 millions but only 5-10% are known (Hawksworth, 1991, 2001)

29,914!32,739! 150! 940! 914!15,945! unclassified

BasidiomycotaAscomycotaGlomeromycotaZygomycotaChytridiomycotamitosporic fungi

1.5 millions fungal species? Only ca. 80,000 known? Then, were are the ‘missing’ fungi?

Unexplored regions of the world, mainly in the tropics - it is ‘easy’ to collect new fungal species… (but not so easy to establish that they are ‘new’!)

Microscopic fungi in little explored ‘micro’ habitats; e.g., - rumen of animals: discovery of a novel group of chytrids -  insect-associated, for instance yeasts in beetles guts - plant leaves and roots (endophytes); - soil; etc.

Cryptic fungi, for which no fructification has been detected and do not grow on standard culture media: - e.g., groups only known from molecular data;

Cryptic (sibling) species: - morphologically indistinguishable taxa, yet sexually incompatible and genetically divergent.