Lecture 14 - Evolution of Fungi Flashcards
characteristics of unikonta
- > includes certain amoebae and opisthokonts (fungi, choanoflagellates and animals)
- > they’re all heterotrophic (must eat other things; no chloroplasts)
- > if they have flagellum, the majority of the time it’s a single flagellum
Explain how fungi are absorptive heterotrophs
fungi release enzymes to digest complex molecules, then they absorb smaller molecules
Explain the trophic phase of fungi
hyphae network (mycelium) around/in food source
how do fungi reproduce
through fruiting bodies and by producing spores
ecological roles of fungi
- > decompose organic matter
- > symbiotic relationships
* mycorrhizae associations with most plant species (enhance nutrient uptake)
economic roles of fungi
- > fungi can be edible
- > they’re used in the production of bread, wine, and beer
- > hae medicinal uses/properties (antibiotic)
fungi’s negative effects on humans
- > fungi spoil/decompose cloth, food crops, wood
- > can parasitize animals and plants (infest or exploit (an organism or part) as a parasite.)
- > pathogen cause health problems (i.e. athletes foot and ringworm)
- > some are toxic to eat/ poison our food
Chydrids
- > decomposers but also parasitic (of protists, other fungi, plants, animals)
- > likely responsible for the global decline of amphibians
- > some live in the digestive track of sheep/cattle and perform important digestive processes
Zygomycetes
- > many fast growing and responsible for food moulds
- > some parasitic or commensal symbionts (symbionts benefits from the host, while the host is unaffected)
Glomeromycetes
- > 160 species but ecologically very significant
- > almost all form arbuscular mycorrhizae
- > 80% of plants have mutualistic relationships with glomeromycete
arbuscular mycorrhizar
An arbuscular mycorrhiza (plural mycorrhizas, a.k.a. endomycorrhiza) is a type of mycorrhiza in which the symbiont fungus (AM fungi, or AMF) penetrates the cortical cells of the roots of a vascular plant forming arbuscules.
Ascomycetes
- > includes yeasts, truffles and morels
- > many plant plathogens, decomposers and
- > fruiting body = ascocarps
- > spores produces in asci (saclike structure) and discharged
Trophic phase of ascomycetes
haploid hyphae (exceptions in yeast)
Basidiomycetes
- > includes mushrooms, shelf fungi, rust and puffballs
- > decomposers of wood
- > trophic phase: haploid and dikaryotic
- > fruiting body = basidocarp(dikaryotic)
symbiosis in Lichens
the mutually helpful symbiotic relationship of green algae and/or blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) and other fungi
- > fungi provide structure and habitat for algae (retain H2O, secrete acids to dissolve minerals, provide protection)
