Fungi, end of plants

Question 1

What is the largest organism?

Answer 1

Fungus.

Question 2

What is the updated belief about the phenomenon behind the children acting crazy and causing the Salem With Trials?

Answer 2

That the kids were ingesting ERGOTS (grain in bread) infected by a fungus which produces the active component of LSD.

Question 3

What are ringworms actually?

Answer 3

A fungus.

Question 4

What type of “-troph” (eating behavior) are fungi?

Answer 4

Absorptive heterotrophs

Question 5

What organism is a “saprobe” or “saprotroph”, and what do those terms mean?

Answer 5

Fungi are, and it means they are decomposers of other organisms.

Question 6

What is it about fungi’s cell walls that makes them unique?

Answer 6

They are composed of chitin (normally found in insects) and glucans (normally found in plants).

Question 7

What are the filaments that make up fungus called? What is the conglomeration of those filaments called?

Answer 7

Filaments = hyphae

Mass of hyphae = mycelium

Question 8

What is a septa?

Answer 8

The porous bits of cell wall that almost close off the hyphae into multiple cells - but the pores are always open.

Question 9

Which part of the fungus has a denser mycelium? the fruiting body or the absorptive structure?

Answer 9

The fruiting body.

Question 10

What does “commensal” refer to?

Answer 10

A type of symbiotic relationship where one organism benefits from the presence of the other and the other has no effects.

Question 11

What does “mycorrhiza” refer to? and how does it work?

Answer 11

A mutualistic association of fungus with plant roots.

The fungus provides minerals & water to the plant, the plant provides carbs to the fungus.

Question 12

In an endo-mycorrhiza relationship, do the hyphae of the fungus grow through the cell walls of the plant roots?

Answer 12

Yes. But they stop there, they don’t go through the plasma membrane.

Question 13

Which are older, mycorrhizae or vascular plants?

Answer 13

Mycorrhizae!

Question 14

Lichens are the combination of fungus plus WHAT?

Answer 14

Cyanobacterium and/or unicellular green algae.

Question 15

How do lichen reproduce, if they’re a combo of two organisms themselves?

Answer 15

Can either

1. disperse together (hyphae of fungus + soredium of algae partner)
2. hyphae of fungus disperses alone

Question 16

Are spores multi or unicellular?

Answer 16

Unicellular

Question 17

Spores can be generated asexually or sexually.

Where does the sexual (meiosis) reproduction happen on the fungus?

Answer 17

in the basidia of the mushroom gills.

Question 18

What part of the fungus produces spores asexually? Think of a rotten orange. What characterizes the spores produced in this manner? What are the two key words of the asexual reproduction method?

Answer 18

In the sporangia. They are exposed to the air (“conidia”) at the tip of the hyphae.
“Budding” or “Fission”

Question 19

About how many spores are present in 1m(3) of air?
A. 1 000
B. 10 000
C. 500
D. 100 000

Answer 19

B. 10 000 spores per m(3)

Question 20

In what organism did chitin first evolve?

Answer 20

In fungi! it later separately evolved in insects (animals)!

Question 21

On a phylogenic tree, are fungi closer related to animals or plants?

Answer 21

Animals.

Question 22

During what period did fungi flourish?

Answer 22

The Permian

Question 23

There is a type of fungus that can belong to the zygo-, asco-, or basidiomyocota phylogenic groups. What is it?

Answer 23

Yeasts.

Question 24

Why are yeasts useful in genetics?

Answer 24

They have plasmids.

Question 25

Microsporidia have puzzled taxonomists. What are some 2 interesting characteristics of microsporidia?

Answer 25

1. They lack mitochondria, but do have mitosomes (which are derived from mitochondria).
2. They are obligate intracellular parasites (obviously extremely tiny)

Question 26

What is the name of the fungus group that helps animals break down cellulose in their stomachs? What are some other characteristics of this group?

Answer 26

Chytrids.

• They are the only ones that have a motile phase (with flagellated gametes & spores)
• Some are saprobic, some are parasitic, some are mutualistic
• Truly alternating life cycle
• They’re killing frogs.

Question 27

What fungal group is that nasty bluish grey mold on bread a part of?

Answer 27

Zygomycota

Question 28

What type of life cycle do zygomycota have?

Answer 28

Haplontic (reduced diploid phase)

Question 29

What is the phylogenic group of fungi that seems to be very good at forming arbuscular endomycorrhizae?

Answer 29

Glomeromycota

Question 30

What type of fungi (which also produce “puffballs”) form ectomycorrhizae and are the only group to completely digest lignin?

Answer 30

Basidiomycota

Question 31

Give 4 important characteristics of ascomycota.

Answer 31

1. Their spores are “naked”, no sex organs.
2. There are ~ 70k species and can be terrestrial or aquatic
3. They’re responsible for molds and mildews, tree diseases, and half the lichens
4. Their conidia are produced asexually in the hyphae.

Question 32

What type of fungus is responsible for deadly white-nose syndrome in bats?

Answer 32

Ascomycota.

Question 33

What is plasmogamy?

Answer 33

Fusion of cytoplasm from different individuals without NUCLEAR fusion. Creates a dikaryotic phase.