Notes : Fungi Systematics

Introduction
 Fungus, plural fungi, any of about 144,000 known species of organisms of the kingdom Fungi, which includes
the yeasts, rusts, smuts, mildews, molds, and mushrooms.
 The kingdom Fungi includes an enormous variety of living organisms collectively referred to as Ascomycota, or true
Fungi.
 Being eukaryotes, a typical fungal cell contains a true nucleus and many membrane-bound organelles.
 They can occur as yeasts, molds, or as a combination of both forms.
 Yeasts are microscopic fungi consisting of solitary cells that reproduce by budding. Molds, in contrast, occur in
long filaments known as hyphae, which grow by apical extension.
 Fungi are not capable of photosynthesis: they are heterotrophic because they use complex organic compounds as
sources of energy and carbon.
 Some fungal organisms multiply only asexually, whereas others undergo both asexual reproduction and sexual
reproduction with alternation of generations.
 Most fungi produce a large number of spores, which are haploid cells that can undergo mitosis to form multicellular,
haploid individuals.
 Fungi often interact with other organisms, forming beneficial or mutualistic associations.
 Fungi grow best in acidic environment ( tolerate acidic pH).
 Fungi can tolerate high sugar concentration and dry condition
 Most of the fungi are Obligate aerobes (molds) and few are facultative anaerobes (yeasts)
 Optimum temperature of growth for most saprophytic fungi is 20-30 C while (30-37) C for parasitic fungi.
 Growth rate of fungi is slower than that of bacteria.
 Cell wall is composed of chitin.
 Cell membrane consists of ergosterol.

Morphology
 A typical fungus consists of a mass of branched, tubular filaments enclosed by a rigid cell wall.
 The filaments, called hyphae (singular hypha), branch repeatedly into a complicated, radially expanding network
called the mycelium, which makes up the thallus, or undifferentiated body, of the typical fungus.
 The mycelium grows by utilizing nutrients from the environment and, upon reaching a certain stage of maturity,
forms—either directly or in special fruiting bodies—reproductive cells called spores.
 The spores are released and dispersed by a wide variety of passive or active mechanisms; upon reaching a
suitable substrate, the spores germinate and develop hyphae that grow, branch repeatedly, and become the
mycelium of the new individual.
 Fungal growth is mainly confined to the tips of the hyphae, and all fungal structures are therefore made up of
hyphae or portions of hyphae.
 Some fungi, notably the yeasts, do not form a mycelium but grow as individual cells that multiply by budding or, in
certain species, by fission.

Nutrition
 Saprotrophic fungi obtain their food from dead organic material; parasitic fungi do so by feeding on living
organisms (usually plants), thus causing disease.
 Fungi secure food through the action of enzymes (biological catalysts) secreted into the surface on which they are
growing; the enzymes digest the food, which then is absorbed directly through the hyphal walls.
 Food must be in solution in order to enter the hyphae, and the entire mycelial surface of a fungus is capable of
absorbing materials dissolved in water.
 Some fungi produce special rootlike hyphae, called rhizoids, which anchor the thallus to the growth surface and
probably also absorb food.
 Many parasitic fungi are even more specialized in this respect, producing special absorptive organs
called haustoria.
Reproduction
 Following a period of intensive growth, fungi enter a reproductive phase by forming and releasing vast quantities
of spores.
 Spores are usually single cells produced by fragmentation of the mycelium or within specialized structures
(sporangia, gametangia, sporophores, etc.).
 Spores may be produced either directly by asexual methods or indirectly by sexual reproduction.
 Sexual reproduction in fungi, as in other living organisms, involves the fusion of two nuclei that are brought
together when two sex cells (gametes) unite.
 Asexual reproduction, which is simpler and more direct, may be accomplished by various methods.

Classification of Fungi
Six classes of Fungi:

1. Chytridiomycota.
2. Zygomycota.
3. Ascomycota.
4. Basidiomycota.
5. Deuteromycota.
6. Glomeromycota.