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Biological Systems > Biodiversity (Fungi) > Flashcards

Biodiversity (Fungi) Flashcards

1
Q

How structure and function in fungi relate to their role in ecosystems

A
  • Fungi are diverse, widespread, and essential for the well-being of most ecosystems
  • Some are single celled but most are complex multicellular organisms
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2
Q

What type of feeders are fungi

A

Heterotrophs - absurd nutrients from outside their bodies

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3
Q

What do fungi use to break down complex molecules into smaller organic compounds?

A

Hydrolytic enzymes - digest living or dead compounds

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4
Q

Decomposers

A

Break down and absorb nutrients from nonliving organic material

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5
Q

Parasitic

A

Fungi absorb nutrients from living hosts

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6
Q

Mutualistic

A

Fungi absorb nutrients from hosts and reciprocate with actions that benefit the host

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7
Q

Most common body structures

A
  • Multicellular filaments (most)
  • Single cells (yeasts) (few)
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8
Q

What type of environment do yeasts inhabit?

A

Moist, with plentiful soluble nutrients, such as sugars or amino acids

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9
Q

Fungal bodies form networks of tiny filaments called

A

Hyphae

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10
Q

What does the structure of a hyphae look like

A

Tubular cell walls strengthened with chitin, a structural polymer

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11
Q

What do chitin-rich walls prevent cells from?

A

Lysing due to osmotic pressure that builds up during nutrient absorption

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12
Q

What are septa

A
  • Hyphae are divided into cells by them or cross-walls
  • Septa have pores large enough to enable cell-to-cell movement of organelles
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13
Q

Coenocytic fungi

A

Lack septa, they have hundreds or thousands of nuclei in a continuous cytoplasmic mass

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14
Q

Mycelium

A

An interwoven mass formed by fungal hyphae that infiltrates the food source

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15
Q

What does the structure of a mycelium maximize

A

Surface-to-volume ratio, making absorption very efficient

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16
Q

How do hyphae grow

A

In length, not girth, using cytoplasmic streaming to move materials to the tips

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17
Q

Considering fungi are not motile, how do they colonize new territory?

A

Through the growth of their hyphae

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18
Q

Specialized hyphae in mycorrhizal fungi

A
  • Some fungi have them for feeding on live animals
  • Others have specialized hyphae called haustoria that allow them to extract nutrients from plants
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19
Q

What do mutualistic fungi have?

A

Specialized branching hyphae used to exchange nutrients with their plant hosts

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20
Q

Mutually beneficial relationships between fungi and plant roots are called

A

Mycorrhizae

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21
Q

What do mycorrhizal fungi deliver to plants?

A

Phosphate ions and minerals

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22
Q

What do the plants supply to the fungi in exchange?

A

Organic nutrients

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23
Q

How do fungi propagate themselves?

A

by producing vast numbers of spores, either sexually or asexually

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24
Q

How are spores transported

A

They are carried long distances by wind or water, if they land in a moist place with food, they will germinate and form new mycelia

25
Q

How and what type of spores do molds produce

A

Haploid spores asexually by mitosis, and form visible, “furry” mycelia

26
Q

How do single-celled yeasts reproduce

A
  • Asexually without producing spores
  • Reproduction occurs through simple cell division or pinching of small “bud cells” off a parent cell
27
Q

What was the ancestor of fungi

A

An aquatic, single-celled, flagellated protist

28
Q

What two groups are more closely related to each other than either group is to plants or most other eukaryotes

A

Fungi and animals

29
Q

What does the opisthokonts clade include

A

fungi, animals, and their protistan relatives

30
Q

What did opisthokonts evolve from

A

a unicellular flagellated ancestor

31
Q

What likely evolved independently in fungi and animals

A

Multicellularity

32
Q

What does molecular clock analysis indicate?

A
  • that animals and fungi diverged more than a billion years ago
    -sym genes required for mycorrhizal formation were present in early plants
33
Q

What type of habitat did fungi likely originate in?

A

in aquatic habitats, but the oldest widely accepted fossils are of terrestrial species from 440 million years ago

34
Q

What does fossil evidence support?

A

the formation of mutualistic relationships between fungi and early plants

35
Q

How many known species of fungi are there?

A

There are 145,000 known species of fungi; estimates of the actual number lie between 2.2 and 3.8 million

36
Q

Cryptomycetes

A
  • 30 known species
  • Found globally in soils, and marine and freshwater habitats
  • Both aerobic and anaerobic species
  • Many are parasites of protists and other fungi
  • Unicellular and have flagellated spores
  • Can synthesize a chitin-rich cell wall (like fungi)
37
Q

Microsporidians

A
  • 1,300 known species
  • unicellular parasites of protists and animals, including humans
  • can synthesize a chitin-rich cell wall
  • have small genomes with as few as 2,000 genes
  • They produce spores that infect host cells via a harpoon-like organelle
38
Q

Chytrids

A
  • 1,000 known species
  • Found in lakes, soil, and marine habitats including hydrothermal vents
  • Include species that function as decomposers, parasites, and mutualists
  • Nearly all chytrids have flagellated spores, called zoospores
  • Like other fungi, the cell walls are made of chitin
  • Some are single-celled; others form colonies
39
Q

Zoopagomycetes

A
  • 900 known species
  • They live as parasites or commensal symbionts of animals, or as parasites of other fungi or protists
  • They form filamentous hyphae and reproduce asexually via nonflagellated spores
  • Some induce behavioral changes in the insects they parasitize
  • They have nonflagellated, wind dispersed spores
  • This change was likely associated with the transition from aquatic habitats to life on land
40
Q

Mucoromycetes

A
  • 750 known species
  • Molds in this group include important decomposers
  • Many others live as parasites, pathogens, or mutualists with plants (including some mycorrhizae)
  • In deteriorating conditions—for instance, most of the food is consumed—sexual reproduction may occur
41
Q

Ascomycetes

A
  • 90,000 known species
  • They live in a variety of marine, freshwater, and terrestrial habitats
  • They vary in size and complexity from unicellular yeasts to elaborate cup fungi and morels
  • Ascomycetes include plant pathogens, decomposers, and symbionts
  • More than 25% of all ascomycete species form lichens, symbiotic associations with green algae or cyanobacteria
  • Some form mycorrhizae with plants; others live within plant leaves and produce compounds toxic to insects
42
Q

Neurospora crassa

A
  • a model research organism
  • Its entire genome was published in 2003
  • Neurospora has about three- fourths as many genes as the fruit fly Drosophila and about half as many as a human
43
Q

Basidiomycetes

A
  • about 50,000 known species including mushrooms, puffballs, and shelf fungi
  • Some are mutualists that form mycorrhizae
  • Others destructive plant parasites: rusts and smuts
  • important decomposers of wood
  • Certain basidiomycetes are the best at decomposing lignin, a complex polymer abundant in wood
  • mycelium can reproduce sexually by producing fruiting bodies called basidiocarps
  • A mushroom results from a concentrated growth of hyphae that forms from the dikaryotic mycelium
  • Mushroom cap supports, protects a large surface area of basidia on gills
  • Sexually produced basidiospores are ejected and dispersed by wind
44
Q

What do fungi play key roles in

A

nutrient cycling, ecological interactions, and human welfare

45
Q

Decomposers

A
  • Efficient decomposers of organic material including cellulose and lignin
  • Together, fungi and bacteria perform essential recycling of chemical elements between the living and nonliving world
  • Without these critical decomposers, life as we know it would cease
46
Q

Mutualists

A
  • Fungi form mutualistic relationships with plants, algae, cyanobacteria, and animals
  • Mutualistic fungi absorb nutrients from a host, but reciprocate with actions that benefit the host
47
Q

Fungus-Plant Mutualisms

A
  • All plant species harbor symbiotic endophytes, fungi (or bacteria) that live inside leaves or other plant parts without causing harm
  • Most endophytes are ascomycetes
  • Some make toxins to defend the host plant; others help the plant tolerate heat, drought, or heavy metals
48
Q

Fungus-Animal Mutualisms

A
  • Some fungi share digestive services with animals
  • Help break down plant material in the guts of cattle and other grazing mammals
  • Many species of ants use the digestive power of fungi by raising them in “farms”
49
Q

Lichens

A

Symbiotic associations between photosynthetic microorganisms and fungi

50
Q

Millions of photosynthetic cells are held in a mass of

A

fungal hyphae

51
Q

Where do lichens grow

A

on the surfaces of rocks, rotting logs, trees, and roofs in various forms

52
Q

The fungal partners are most often

A

ascomycetes

53
Q

The photosynthetic partners are

A

unicellular or filamentous green algae or cyanobacteria

54
Q

The fungus usually gives a lichen its

A

overall shape and structure, and forms most of its mass

55
Q

Cells of the algae or cyanobacteria usually occupy

A

an inner layer below the surface

56
Q

important pioneers on new rock and soil surfaces, such as

A

volcanic flows or burned forests

57
Q

Fungi as Parasites in Plants

A
  • About 30% of known fungal species are parasites or pathogens, mostly on or in plants
  • Each year, 10-50% of the world’s fruit harvest is lost annually due to fungi; grain crops also suffer major annual losses
  • Some fungal parasites of food crops produce toxin
58
Q

Fungi as Parasites in Animals

A
  • Animals are much less susceptible to parasitic fungi than are plants
  • Two chytrid species have been implicated in the decline or extinction of about 500 species of amphibians worldwide
  • They cause sever skin infections, leading to massive die-offs
  • The general term for fungal infection in animals is mycosis
59
Q

Practical Uses of Fungi

A
  • Humans eat many fungi and use others to make cheeses, alcoholic beverages, and bread
  • Some fungi have great medical value
  • Genetic research on fungi is leading to medical applications in biotechnology and is also targeting fungi for use in the production of biofuels

Biological Systems (13 decks)

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