Kingdom Fungi

Distinguishing Characteristics

• Eukaryotes• Nuclei in cells• Multicellular• Cell walls (chitin)• Heterotrophs• Sessile• Sexual & Asexual Reproduction

Distinguishing Characteristics

• Absorbs food through hyphae • Largest living thing• Mycelia– masses of hypha• Chitin walls (chitin is same material found in

exoskeletons of animals)

Alternation of Generation

• Sexual– Hyphae “mate” results in 2 nucleus cell called

dikaryote. – Cells fuse and you get cell with twice the genetic

information– Undergoes meiosis to split back to normal– Spores result germination and new hyphae

• Asexual– Hyphae produce asexual fruiting body that produces

spores

Animalia Chytridiomycota Zygomycota Ascomycota Basidiomycota

Chytridiomycota

• Flagella in one stage of life• Live in water • Cell walls• unseparated Hyphae

Chytridiomycota• Chytridiomycota

• Primitive aquatic fungi. They are characterized by having gametes that are motile by means of flagella.

• 1000 species

Zygomycota

• Resistant dikaryotic spores• Spores live for months or

years…

• Bred molds…

Zygomycota (Coenocytic Fungi) • Zygomycota

• Form sexual spores called zygospores. They form when the nuclei at the ends of two hyphae fuse together in a process of fertilization to form a zygote.

Fungus growing on moss, to the right is a magnified view.

Zygomycota:Black Bread Mold

• Rhizopus nigricans.

Ascomycota

• “Sack” fungi • Reproductive sack forms where sexual

reproduction happens

Ascomycota:Cup Fungus• Ascomycetes

• Their sexual spores (ascospores) are enclosed in tube-like sacs known as asci.

• Neurospora crassa is an ascomycete mold that was important in studies of genetic linkage.

With lichen surrounding

Orange fairy

Scarlet fungus

Asci

Basisiomycota

• Produces “clubs” mushrooms that are swollen masses of dikaryotic cells.

Basidiomycota: Club Fungus• Basidiomycetes

• Their sexual spores, or basidiospores, are formed on complex fruiting body structures called basidia. Included in this class are some of the most complex fungi, including mushrooms and puffballs.

puffballs

leucocoprinus fragilissimus

Coral fungus