Fungi

• Mycology


  The branch of biology concerned with the systematic study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy, and their use to humans as a source of medicine, food, and psychotropic substances consumed for religious purposes, as well as their dangers, such as poisoning or infection
• Common fungi


  • Mushrooms
  • Yeasts
  • Molds
• Fungi


  • Essential in decomposing dead organic matter in the soil, and without them, biological refuse would take much longer to degrade, making it difficult for the next generation of organisms to utilize the essential elements therein
• Characteristics of fungi


  • All fungi are heterotrophs
  • Absorb their food/nutrients through their cell walls and cell membranes
  • Release digestive enzymes into their environment
  • The enzymes break down leaves, fruit, or other organic material into simple molecules which then diffuse across the cell walls and cell membranes
  • Grow better in an environment with specific conditions (pH, moisture, nitrogen, carbohydrate metabolism, aerobic/anaerobic)
  • The body is made up of many tiny filaments tangled together in a thick mass called mycelia
  • Cell walls of most hyphae are made up of chitin or cellulose
• Modes of reproduction in fungi

  • Vegetative reproduction (fragmentation, budding, fission)
  • Asexual reproduction (sporangiospore, conidiospore, arthrospore, chlamydospore, blastospore, zoospore, aplanospore, oidia, conidia)
  • Sexual reproduction (plasmogamy, karyogamy, meiosis)
• Plasmogamy


  The process which brings the fusion of cytoplasm of two different cells, bringing two genetically different nuclei in the same cell
• Karyogamy


  The fusion of two haploid nuclei to form a diploid zygote
• Meiosis


  The diploid nucleus undergoes meiosis to produce the haploid nuclei, helping in the recombination of genetic material
• Gametangia


  The sex organs in fungi, which are unicellular and naked
• Types of sexual reproduction in fungi

  • Gametic fusion (isogamy, anisogamy, oogamy)
  • Gamete-gametangial copulation
  • Gametangial copulation
  • Somatic copulation (somatogamy)
  • Spermetization
• Types of sexual spores in fungi

  • Ascospore
  • Basidiospore
  • Zygospore
  • Oospore