Ascomycota Flashcards
Phylum Ascomycota
Class Ascomycetes
Morphology
-filamentous when growing (except unicellular yeasts)
-hyphae are septate
-hyphae cells of vegetative mycelium may be uninucleate or multinucleate
-some species are homothallic (self-fertile) = produce sexual structures from single genetic strain
Most of the blue-green, red and brown molds that cause food to spoil are _______
Ascomycetes
Ascomycetes cause what plant diseases
Powdery mildews that attack fruit, chestnut blight and Dutch elm disease
Yeasts belong to which fungal group
Ascomycetes
Asexual reproduction of Ascomycetes
-Form specialized spores “conidia”
-Conidia cut off from tips of modified hyphae “conidiophores”
-Conidia usually are multinucleate
Sexual reproduction of Ascomycetes
-Formation of “ascus” (asci-plural) = a sac like structure
-characteristic if phylum ascomycota
The Ascomycetes can be divided into two main groups based on Ascus morphology…..
- Unitunicate asci-thin wall
- Bitunucate asci-double wall Ascus
Ascus formation and types of asci
-complex studies composed of tightly interwoven hyphae called the ascoma also known as an ascocarp
-an ascoma may be open and more or less cup-shaped (apothecium) or closed and spherical (cleistothecium) or flask shaped with a small pore through which ascospores escape (perithecium)
The layer of asci is called the ______ or ________ layer.
In one other group, the “ascostomal” fungi, the asci are formed inside a chamber called a _______ within a mass of tissue called a ____. Such chambers differ from perithecia in that they have no….
Hymenium or hymeneal layer
Ascostroma
Strike
Wall or hymenium, and therefore are called pseudothecia
Life cycle of Ascomycetes
-Mycelium initiated with germination of an ascocarp.
-After vegetative growth, the mycelium begin to form conidiophores that bear Conidia.
-Ascus formation occurs on same mycelium that produced Conidia and is preceded by the formation of generally multinucleate gametangia called antheridia and ascogonia
-Male nuclei of the antheridium pass into the ascogonium via a Trichogyne which grows from the ascogonium
-plasmogamy, make then pair with the genetically different female nuclei within common cytoplasm but do not fuse.
-hyphal filaments now begin to grow out of the ascogonium and elongate into ascogonous hyphae
-as they grow, pairs of nuclei migrate into them and simultaneous mitotic division occurs in the hypahe and ascogonium.
-cell division in developing as igneous hypahe occurs and result in dikaryotic cells (2 haploid nuclei)
-the Ascus forms from tips of the developing dikaryotic, ascogenous hypahe
-one binucleate cells of the dikaryotic hypaha grows over to form a crozier, here the two nuclei divide, two septa are formed dividing hook into 3 cells, the middle becomes the Ascus and Karyogamy occurs here.
-the young Ascus begins to elongate
-haploid nuclei are then cut off in segments of the cytoplasm to form ascospores-burst off into air
Sexual sporulation in the ascomycota
-apical compartment of a dikaryotic ascogenous hypha Elgin’s yes and bends over to form a hook (crozier)
-two compatible nuclei in the apical compartment undergo mitosis
-septa develop to divide crosier into 3 compartments (the tip and Basal compare tins are uninucleate; middle is binucleate and is called the Ascus mother cell)
-nuclei in apical mother cell fuse to form a diploid nucleus, that undergoes meiosis to form four haploid nuclei
-each haploid nucleus divided mitotically resulting in 8 haploid nuclei
-portion of protoplasm envelopes each nucleus, forms a wall and matured into an Ascus
-another Ascus mother cell will have been developing alongside the first
-in most ascomycota, form in groups, surrounded by hypahe
3 cells of crozier
Apical- uninucleate
Penultimate cell “Ascus mother cells” -binucleate
Stalk cell (uninucleate)
Types of ascomycota
-Cleistothecium = closed
-perithecium = flask
-apothecium = cup
Cleistothesium characteristics
Closed Ascomata
-round, completely closed ascocarps; asci are arranged irregularly
-cleistothecia burst open to release their asci and ascocarps
Perithecium characterisitcs
-flask shaped ascocarps; open via a neck like ostiole with a terminal pore through which the ascocarps are liberated
-asci are arranged in orderly layer at the base of the cavity
Apothecium characteristics
-open or cup shaped ascocarp; asci are arranged on the exposed surface
-layer of asci is called the “hymenium” or hymeneal layer
Ascostroma
Pl: ascostromsta
Fruiting bodies containing bitunicate (double walled) asci in locules (cavities) usually dark with multiple locules, but sometimes single (pseudothecium)
How does a pseudothecium differ from a perithecium that is formed within a stroma
Peritehcial wall is formed by the perithecium that delimits it from the stroma. Such a wall layer is absent in the pseudothecium of the Dothideomycetes
As well, in the pseudothecium, the asci are not regularly organized into a hymenium and they are bitunucate, having a double wall which expands when it takes up water and shoots the enclosed spores out suddenly to disperse them.
Unicellular ascomycota lack _______
Ascomata
Order Endomycetales
Order Taphrinales
Order Endomycetales (yeasts)
-asexual reproduction
-fission or by pinching off of small buds
-no spore formation
Order Endomycetales (yeasts)
-sexual reproduction
- Two cells or two ascocarps unite to form a diploid zygote.
-single cell acts as an Ascus = Holocarpic (whole organism becomes the reproductive structure)
-zygote produces asexual buds or undergoes meiosis to produce four haploid nuclei (mitotic division)
Ascospores either bud asexually or fuse with another cell to repeat sexual process
Order Taphrinales
-life history
-primarily parasitic on higher plants
-cause deformities of leaves, stems and fruit
-excess growth of hyphae between host cells causes the leaves to curl
Asci of Taphrina deformans
-hypahe produce baked asci (not surrounded by ascoma) on surface of infected tissue
-asci develop to form dikaryotic hypahe, formed by sexual fusion of compatible hyphal strains within host tissue
Remaining orders of Ascomycota are separated based on……
Differences in the types of asci, the form of release of Ascospores, the types of ascoma surrounding the asci
A=unitunicate: thin walls, some release spores through small pore (operculum) while some possess a structure called an apical ring apparatus. In both spores are forcibly expelled into the air.
B=bitunicate : double wall, spores expelled theough apical pore
Order Eurotiales
-life history
-asci organization
-ascoma structure
-release of Ascospores
-reproduction method
-short lived
-asci scattered within cleistothecal ascoma and are arranged irregularly, no asci arranged on hymenium
-ascoma is completely enclosed sphere, the walls of which are made of dikaryotic hypahe
-requires degradation of breaking of the wall of the cleistothecium (no force discharge)
-primarily reproduce by formation of Conidia which are pinched off conidiophores
Order Eurotiales
Penicillium sp. importance
Blue and green molds
-repressed bacterial growth without being toxic to animal tissues. Led to antibiotics
-also used to give certain cheese their flavour, odour and character