Fungi Flashcards
How long ago did fungi arise
1.3 billion years
Are fungi more related to plants or animals?
Fungi are more closely related to animals
All Fungi have 2 things
- A cell wall made of chitin
2. They externally digest their food
Fungi cell walls are made of
Complex polysaccharides Chitin and Glucans
Purpose of fungal cell wall
Provide structure, protection, and prevent fungal cells from desiccation (drying out)
The vegetative state of fungi is made of what
Hyphae
Hyphae
Allow for the rapid flow of nutrients and minerals needed for the survival of the fungi
A network of hyphae is known as a
Mycelium
Armillaria Solidipes
A fungus humungous. Biggest fungus
Ideal environment for fungi
moist and acidic environments
Facultative Anaerobe
Do best in oxygen-rich environments, but can survive in anaerobic environments
Ways in which fungi asexually reproduces
Budding, Fragmentation, and Spores
Fragmentation
Fragments of hyphae can grow into new colonies
Sporangium
A reproductive sac that holds spores in fungi
3 stages of sexual reproduction in fungi
- Plasmogamy
- karyogamy
- Meiosis
Plasmogamy
“union of cytoplasm”
2 haploid cells fuse together and form a dikaryotic cell
karyogamy
“Nuclear Union”
The two haploid nuclei fuse together to form a diploid zygote nucleus
Meiosis
the newly formed diploid produces gametes spores via meiosis
Mycorrhizae
A mutualistic system between the mycelium of fungi and roots of a plant
What do fungi secrete in order to digest their food
hydrolytic enzymes that break down complex molecules
Example of mutualistic relationship in the animal kingdom
Termites have gut fungi to break down wood, allowing both to get energy
Chitin-rich walls enhance feeding by absorption. Why is this?
It prevents the cells from bursting via the large influxes of water due to all the minerals being absorbed by the mycelium
Septa
cross-walls that divide the hyphae into cells. Have pores that allow things to flow from cell to cell
Fungi that lack septa are called
coenocytic Fungi