7e

Question 1

Use examples of fungi to show their significance as (a) organisms of agricultural importance, (b) causative agents of disease or allergy, (c) value to the pharmaceutical industry and human health, (d) human food, and (e) use in food/beverage production

Answer 1

Agricultural - Corn smut, mallow rust, chestnut blight, dutch elm disease, aspergillus,
Agent of disease/allergy - athlete’s foot. Ringworm, jock itch, candida albicans (vaginal infection), histoplasmosis
Pharmaceutical - penicillin, cyclosporin, cephalosporin
Food - breakdown, fermentation - soy sauce, cheese, truffles, morels, mushrooms, bread
Food/beverage production - wine, beer, spirits (yeasts)

Question 1

Outline some examples of the range of mutualistic associations between fungi and other eukaryotic organisms (e.g. mycorrhizae, lichens, etc.) and their significance as decomposers

Answer 1

Lichens: critical in forming soil crusts, fungus provides support and protection
Mycorrhizae: fungus get sugars from the plant the the plant gain nutrient absorption with the fundus increased surface area/
Endophytes: produce chemicals that deter feeding by herbivores, aid the plants resilience and may be harmful to digest for grazing livestock.
Decomposers are the only fungi which can decompose cellulose and lignin which liberates the nutrient trapped inside for the ecosystem.

Question 2

List the characteristics that distinguish the major groups of fungi

Answer 2

Chytrids: swimming spores, parasitic, flagellated (chytridiomycosis - disease affecting amphibians)
Zygomycetes: live in soil or decaying matter, sexual and asexual reproduction
Glomeromycetes: grows on plant roots, hyphae penetrate root cell and often have symbiotic relationships and aids in cellular respiration (Mycorrhizae)
Basidiomycete: sexual reproduction, mushrooms,
Ascomycetes: sac fungi, 75% of fungi (penicillium)

Question 3

briefly describe the life cycle of a fungus

Answer 3

Two cycle, sexual and asexual they begin with asexual until an even require variation, then it alternate generations
Spores are produced, then it germinates into mycelium until it needs to reproduce.

Question 4

Describe the key features of fungi, namely those related to their growth form, the mechanisms used to obtain nutrition, their method of propagation, and their patterns of reproduction

Answer 4

Growth form - septa cells make hyphae filaments which make up the mycelium which composes the body. Begin as spores which begin to sprout when landed and given moisture.
Nutrients - external digestion they are heterotrophs
Propagation - spores can be carried very far through the wind when it lands on a plant the hyphae enter the plant and grow, when ready to propagate it ‘bursts’ from the b=plant and releases spores.
Reproduction - structures sprout above the mycelium (mushrooms) most are haploid and reproduce sexually