Fungi & Mycorrhizae Flashcards
What is Fungus?
Fungi are not plants. Fungi (singular: fungus) are a kingdom of usually multicellular eukaryotic organisms that are heterotrophs (cannot make their own food) and have important roles in nutrient cycling in an ecosystem. Fungi reproduce both sexually and asexually, and they also have symbiotic associations with plants and bacteria. However, they are also responsible for some diseases in plants and animals. The study of fungi is known as mycology They do not have chlorophyll and are not green. Fungi are heterotrophs and gain nutrients by absorption.
What is mycelia?
A collection of cells called hyphae. The mass of interwoven filamentous hyphae that forms especially the vegetative portion of the thallus of a fungus and is often submerged in another body (as of soil or organic matter or the tissues of a host)
What is hyphae?
Hyphae are comprised of hypha, which are the long filamentous branches found in fungi and actinobacteria (shown below). Hyphae are important structures required for growth in these species, and together, are referred to as mycelium.
What are the five Phylums of Fungi?
Basidiomycota - Clubbed Fungi such as mushrooms.
Ascomycota - parasitic, reproductive sacs called asci
Glomeromycota - asexual, mycorrhizae
Zygomycota - cause decay, Mould
Chytridiomycota - aquatic, asexual, have tails or flagella
Animalia -
What is zygosporangia?
A zygospore is a diploid reproductive stage in the life cycle of many fungi and protists. Zygospores are created by the nuclear fusion of haploid cells. In fungi, zygospores are formed in zygosporangia after the fusion of specialized budding structures, from mycelia of the same (in homothallic fungi) or different mating types (in heterothallic fungi), and may be chlamydospores.[1] In many eukaryotic algae, including many species of the Chlorophyta, zygospores are formed by the fusion of unicellular gametes of different mating types.
How do Fungi reproduce?
All fungi reproduce using spores. Spores are microscopic cells or groups of cells that disperse from their parent fungus, usually through wind or water. Spores can become dormant for a long time until conditions are favorable for growth. This is an adaptation for opportunism; with a sometimes unpredictable food source availability, spores can be dormant until they are able to colonize a new food source. Fungi produce spores through sexual and asexual reproduction.
Anatomy of an agaric mushroom?
Scales
Cap or pilleus
Gills or flamellae
Ring or annulus
Stalk or Stipe
Cup or volva
What is an Agaric mushroom?
A gilled mushroom
What is a polypore?
Polypores are a group of fungi that form large fruiting bodies with pores or tubes on the underside. Polypores are also called bracket fungi or shelf fungi, and they characteristically produce woody, shelf- or bracket-shaped or occasionally circular fruiting bodies that are called conks.
What is a Bolete?
A bolete is a type of mushroom, or fungal fruiting body. It can be identified thanks to a unique cap. On the underside of the cap there is usually a spongy surface with pores, instead of the gills typical of mushrooms.
What is Mycorrhizae?
Mycorrhizae is a symbiotic association between a fungus and a plant. The association is normally mutualistic. In particular species, or in particular circumstances, mycorrhizae may have a parasitic association with host plants. In a mycorrhizal association, the fungus colonizes the host plant’s root tissues, either intracellularly as in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, or extracellularly as in ectomycorrhizal fungi.
What is haploid?
A haploid cell contains a single set of chromosomes (n), whereas a diploid cell contains two sets (2n).
The word haploid (meaning ‘half’) describes a cell that contains a single set of chromosomes. Diploid cells contain two sets of chromosomes, which are arranged in homologous pairs. The body (AKA somatic) cells of most organisms are diploid, and only their gametes are haploid.
Most fungi have a haploid-dominant life cycle. One example of this is the black bread mold, Rhizopus stolonifer. The mature, multicellular form of this mold is haploid, and only during sexual reproduction is a diploid zygote (called a zygospore) produced. The zygospore then undergoes meiosis to produced haploid spores which, under the right conditions, can be used for asexual reproduction.
What is a diploid?
A diploid cell contains two complete sets of chromosomes in its nucleus, whereas haploid cells only contain a single copy.
Diploid cells reproduce via mitosis. During mitosis, the diploid parent cell replicates all of its DNA, creating a new set of chromosomes that are identical to the originals. As the cell divides, it donates a full set of DNA to the new daughter cell and, in doing so, creates a genetically identical copy of itself.
Difference between Mitosis & Meiosis?
Mitosis and meiosis are both types of cell division. Mitosis is the process by which most cells in the body divide, involves a single round of cell division, and produces two identical, diploid daughter cells.
Meiosis is the process by which gametes are produced. Meiosis involves two rounds of cell division and produces four non-identical haploid daughter cells.
What is a heterotroph?
An organism that cannot make its own food and must obtain nutrients from other organic sources.
