Week 3 Flashcards
What domain of the tree of life are fungi under?
Eucaraya
Why are fungi frequently used for biological research?
They are very closely related to animals in the tree of life.
What type of organisms are fungi ?
Non-photosynthetic eukaryotic heterotrophs.
Define heterotroph.
An organism deriving it’s nutritional requirements from complex organic substances.
What type of organisms do fungi originate from?
Marine organisms with flagella
What are the main roles of fungi?
Saprotrophism
Act as pathogens, symbionts and endophytes
What is Saprotrophism ?
Decomposition of organic tissue
Define symbionts.
Organisms which have a mutually beneficial relationship with another organism.
What are endophytes?
A plant or fungus which lives inside another plant.
Outline the biological, general structure of fungi?
Eukaryotic
Multicellular
What are the 2 types of fungal hyphae?
Septate hyphae
Aseptate hyphae
What is a septate fungal hyphae?
Septa’s divide hyphae into cells with separate nuclei and organelles
What are aseptate hyphae?
No separate cells in the cytoplasm so some cells have many nuclei and organelles.
What is the entire hyphal mass of a fungi called?
Mycelium
What is a fungal hyphae?
Fungal hyphae contain the cytoplasm or cell Sao , including nuclei.
They also absorb nutrients from the environment and transport them to other parts of the cell
What is the correct term for the fungal body?
Thallus
What is meant by the term coenocytic ?
Continuous mass of cytoplasm enclosed by one cell wall
Outline the structure of aseptate fungi.
Not partitioned into smaller cells.
Multi-nuclear cells.
Coenocytic
What is the benefit of aseptic fungi having no partitions between cells?
Makes cellular communications extremely easy and means that no complex mechanisms are required.
Describe the structure of septate fungi.
They have septa which are cross walls that divide cells in the fungal mycelium.
Each cell has only 1 or 2 nuclei.
Nuclear division is followed by cross wall formation.
When are cross walls formed in septate fungi?
After nuclear division
How many nuclei are within each cell of septate fungi?
1or 2
Why do Candida albicans have high disease causing activity?
They are able to change forms very quickly.
They are initially a budding yeast but can switch to hyphal forms and other forms on lab agar plates.
What type of research are Candida albicans frequently used for ?
Analysing genome sequences.