Fungi Flashcards
What are Fungi?
- Eukaryotic, have nuclei
- Heterotrophic and absorbent
- Amoeboid, to unicellular (yeast) to usually filamentous
- Generally don’t move much
- Cell walls contain chitin
- Most reproduce by spores
What are fungi more closely related to, plants or animals?
- Animals
Zygomycota
- Decomposers, occasional parasites, form zygospores (resistant spherical spores)
Microsporidia
- Unicellular parasites of animals
Chytridiomycota
- Generally decomposers, occasionally parasites that form zoospores (infect amphibians, deadly)
Basidiomycetes
- Most commonly seen
- Form ‘club’ reproductive structures above ground
Ascomycetes
- Cup fungus
- Morels
- In blue cheese
- Fruiting body not seen as often as basidiomycetes
How many species of fungi worldwide?
- more than 1.5 million
- Greater than 70,000 described by mycologists
How many mushroom species?
- 10,000
- 400 probably poisonous, 20 common, less than 6 commonly lethal
- 2000 probably edible, 100 widely picked w/ 15-30 commonly eaten, 80 grown experimentally w/ 40 commercially cultivated and 5-6 produced on large scale
What kinds of fungi are there, what purpose
- Parasites
- Saprobes
- Predators
- Symbionts
Examples of fungi parasites
- Cordyceps
- fir-blueberry rust
- powdery mildews
- ringworm
- Orange peel fungus
- Turkey tail
- Mycenas
- Spirit gummy bear
- Shelf fungus (red belt conk)
Cordyceps
- Fungi parasite
- Grow in insects, keep host alive and take over brain, then force host to climb high, kill host, fruit through host head, disperse from height
- Zombie ants
Predator fungus, some carnivorous
- Oyster mushrooms, paralytic droplets (ostreatin) produced by hyphae
- Witches butter
- Arthrobotrys, traps nematodes
- Zoophagus, adhesive pegs trap rotifers
Endophytic fungi and cancer
- every plant studied has these
- 242 isolated from surface-sterilised yew tree twig segments
- 2 produced taxol
- taxol is medicinal, used to treat cancer, does not come from plant, but the endophytic fungus on plant
Lichen
- Partnership of fungus and alga, and sometimes yeast
- Many types and sizes
- High diversity in BC, more than plants
Lung lichen
- all 3 kingdoms
- Fungus, bacteria, alga
- Fixes nitrogen (cyanobacteria), alga provides food
Ericoid mycorrhizae and salal
- Fixes nitrogen
- Gives advantage to plants
- Therefore, it may not be environment, climate, or water that makes salad successful here, but the fungus it lives with
Mycorrhizae
- Fungus ‘roots)
Indian Pipe
- Monotropa uniflora
- Mycoheterotrphic
- Fungal associate: Russulaceae, often short-stemmed Russell
Candystick
- Allotropa virgata
- Mycoheterotrophic
- Fungal associate: Pine mushroom, Tricholma magniverlare
Mycoheterotrophy
- Symbiotic relationship btwn certain plants and fungi
- Plant gets all or part of food from parasitism upon fungi rather than from photosynthesis
- Mycoheterotroph is the parasitic plant partner in the relationship
Why does a fungus participate in Mycoheterotrophy?
- Parasitic, wants its partners to survive and do well
- May also transfer hormones, or sugars from sunny trees to shaded trees
Mycoheterotrophic plants are generally?
- Lack chlorophyll
- Have small ‘dust’ seeds w/ undifferentiated embryos
- Have leaves that are scale-like or absent
- Reduced vascularization of the stem
- Lack stomata
- Reduced roots that lack root hairs
- Elevated 13C and 15N values compared to green plants
Mixotrophic plants are generally?
- Green
- Have 13C and 15N values btwn that of mycoheterotrophs and full autotrophs (regular green plants), indicates that they get some C and N from other plants through fungal partner
- Related to mycoheterotrophs
Orchids
- Most require mycoheterotrophic arrangement w/ saprophytic or parasite species of basidiomycetes for germination of ‘dust’ seeds
- more than 100 fully mycoheterotrophic and some mixotrophs
- Transmit amounts of carbon back to fungus
Coralroots
- 4 species in BC
- All mycoheterotrophic
- Fungal associates usually have more than one species per species of plant
Phantom Orchid
- Fully mycoheterotrophic
- 14 Species of fungal associates
Broad-leaved helleborine
- Usually mixotrophic
- Fungal associates may be tuber oregonense
Princes-Pines
- Found locally
- Mixotrophic
- Fungal associates: variety of ectomycorrhizal including tricholomas
Wintergreens
- 6 in our area
- Fungal associates: variety of ectomycorrhizal species including tricholomas
Gnome plant
- Mychoheterotrophic
- Fungal associate: Hydnellum peckii (strawberries and cream/bleeding tooth fungus) and H. aurantiacum
Pinesap
- Hypopitys monotropa
- Mycoheterotrophic
- Fungal associates: Tricholoma species (man-on-horseback)
Pterospora andromedea
- Mycoheterotrophic plant
- Fungal associate: Rhizopogaon spp.
