Fungi

Question 1

What cell type are fungi?

Answer 1

Eukaryote

Question 2

Fungi grow as…

Answer 2

Filaments called hyphae

Question 3

Fungi reproduce by…

Answer 3

A/sexual Spores (predominantly)

Question 4

What is the nutrition profile of fungi?

Answer 4

Heterotrophic (almost all) by:
1. secretion of enzymes into the environment
2. large substances are broken down by the enzymes
2. smaller substances are absorbed by the fungus

Question 5

What are the detrimental impacts of fungi?

Answer 5

1. They cause most plant diseases
2. They cause many animal diseases

Question 6

What are Mycorrhizas?

Answer 6

Important mutualistic associations between fungi and plant roots

Question 7

What are the common features of fungi?

Answer 7

1. Have hyphae
2. Have mycelium
3. Reproduce via spores
4. Heterotrophic (absorb nutrients)

Question 8

What domain do fungi sit under (in the Eukaryote phylogeny)

Answer 8

Unikonta

Question 9

How do fungi “move” and/or have greater surface area?

Answer 9

Hyphae

Question 10

What is the main element of a hyphae?

Answer 10

Chitin

Question 11

What are the 2 different types of hyphae?

Answer 11

1. Septate hypha
2. Ceonocyctic hypha

Question 12

What are the main features of septate hypha?

Answer 12

Has cell divisions with 1x nucleus per cell division

Question 13

What are the main features of coenocytic hypha?

Answer 13

1. Massive tubular, nebular cell, maybe with branches
2. Has many nuclei

Question 14

What is a mycelium?

Answer 14

An interwoven mass of hyphae (the body of the fungus)

Question 15

What are the key features of yeasts?

Answer 15

1. single-celled fungi
2. reproduce by budding or fission

Question 16

What are the benefits/impacts of yeasts?

Answer 16

1. Important for food production (e.g. fermentation)
2. Can form infections (e.g. candida)

Question 17

What is are 4 key differences between yeasts and moulds?

Answer 17

1. Yeasts are unicellular, moulds are multicellular
2. Yeasts are non-sporing (mitosis instead), moulds are spore-producing (a/sexual)
3. Yeasts are aerobic or anerobic, moulds are only aerobic
4. Yeasts use anerobic fermentation to break convert carbohydrates to carbon dioxise, Moulds secrete enzymes to break down particles for absorption

Question 18

What are key features of moulds?

Answer 18

1. Grows in colonies
2. Reproduction via spores

Question 19

What are the benefits/impacts of moulds?

Answer 19

1. Decomposition (carbon cycling)
2. Mycotoxins may occur in cell walls leading to significant respiratory/neurological impacts if inhaled/ingested by mammals

Question 20

Where are spores often formed?

Answer 20

On or in a fruiting body (e.g. mushroom)

Question 21

What are the 3 main ways of spore dispersal?

Answer 21

1. Wind dispersal
2. Rainsplash dispersal
3. Animal dispersal

Question 22

Explain wind dispersal for fungi spores.

Answer 22

1. Mushrooms elevate the spores above the ground
2. Spores are forcibly discharged from the surface of the gill into the moving air

Question 23

Explain Rainsplash disperal for fungi spores.

Answer 23

1. Spores (usually slimy) are dislodged by water drops/splashes and carried away with the water.

Question 24

Explain animal dispersal for fungi spores.

Answer 24

1. Fungi may present in an appealing way for an animal to consume or interact with.
2. The spores are transported via the animal, often via their faeces

Question 25

Are fungi asexual or sexual?

Answer 25

Fungi can go through either asexual or sexual reproduction.

Question 26

What are the basic steps for fungi asexual production?

Answer 26

1. Hyphae form branches with spores on the end of them 2. Spores get dispersed and germinate into a clone of the parent

Question 27

What are the basic steps for fungi sexual production?

Answer 27

1. Mycelia with 2 mating types & hyphae may be dikaryotic 2. Patches of cells form --> transform into diploid nucleus 3. Undergo meiosis to move from diploid to haploid nucleoid 4. Spores are formed

Question 28

What is a major positive ecological impact of fungi?

Answer 28

Decomposers in many terrestrial and aquatic environments (carbon recycling)

Question 29

How can fungi have mutually beneficial relationships?

Answer 29

Mycorrhizas - mutually beneficial relationships between fungi and plant roots. Mycorrhizae extract phosphate that the tree would otherwise be unable to access, and the tree supplies the fungi with nutrients.

Question 30

What are the 2 forms for mycorrhizas?

Answer 30

1. Ectomycorrhizae: fungi grow on the outside of the root (++) and within the cell walls 2. Arbuscular mycorrhizae (endomycorrhizae): fungi grow on the outside of the root, within the cell walls AND within the cell

Question 31

What is a lichen?

Answer 31

Fungi that have co-opted a permanent symbiosis with algae or cyanobacteria to photosynthesis for them (they are considered 1 single organism)