Fungi

Question 1

what appeared first: fungi or plants on land?

Answer 1

fungi

Question 2

what was green slime terrestrial life like, and what did it come before?

Answer 2

cyanobacteria, algae and small heterotrophs (fungi).

came before plants

Question 3

state the SDTs for Fungi

Answer 3

absorptive heterotrophy and chitinous cell wall

Question 4

absorptive heterotrophy

Answer 4

1. hyphae secrete hydrolases (hydrolytic enzymes)
2. hydrolase externally digest polymers into monomers
3. hyphar absorb small organic molecules

Question 5

chitinous cell wall

Answer 5

chitin- N-containing polysaccharide

• strong and flexible
• very durable

Question 6

spores

Answer 6

• haploid
• sexual or asexual
• non-motile
• land in moist place with food -> germinates -> new mycelium

Question 7

what are spore produced by?

Answer 7

aerial hyphae - specialized to increase spore dispersal

fruiting bodies - complex, multicellular reproductive structure

Question 8

fungal mating

Answer 8

1. hyphae (n) release and detect pheromones
2. hyphae extend towards source of other pheromones
3. if different mating types, meet and fuse cytoplasm

Question 9

what happens after plasmogamy?

Answer 9

heterokaryon divides and grows (w/ 2 types of nuclei/cell) via mitosis

Question 10

what are the two main types of asexual species?

Answer 10

• filamentous fungi; spores via mitosis

- single-celled yeast- spores via cell division or budding

Question 11

decomposers

Answer 11

• break down organic material (including cellulose and lignin)
• essential - recycle inorganic nutrients
• no decomposers, no life

Question 12

mutualists

Answer 12

• absorb nutrients from host, provide some benefit to them
• fungus
• mycorrhiza
• endophytes: inside leaves (deter herbivores)

Question 13

mycorrhiza

Answer 13

• mutually beneficial relationships between fungi and plant roots
• mycorrihizal fungi more efficient than plant root at getting soil nutrients
• deliver phosphate ions and minerals to plants
• plants supply fungi with organic nutrients such as carbs
• most vascular plants have mycorrhizae
• Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi - extend hyphae through cell walls of root cells and into tubes by invagination of the root cell membrane

Question 14

parasites

Answer 14

• plants: chestnut blight (enters crack in bark, hyphae spread throughout)
• mycosis: fungal infection in an animal
• ringworm, athlete’s foot, systemic mycosis

Question 15

zombie brain fungus

Answer 15

cordyceps

Question 16

what are the practical uses of fungi?

Answer 16

• consumption
  (1) morels and truffles
  (2) blue/bleu cheese
  (3) yeasts ferment sugars into CO2 and alcohol
• Sacchcaromyces Cerevisiae (Yeast) used as model organisms for eukaryotic genetics
• medical: antibiotic production

Question 17

chytrids

Answer 17

• phylum Chytridiomycota
• terrestrial, freshwater, marine
• unique flagellated spores -> zoospores (ancestral, character state)
• other fungal spores lack flagella - derived character state
• molecular evidence indicates early divergence - basal taxon

Question 18

zygomycetes

Answer 18

-phylum zygomyceta
produce zygospores
-mostly decomposers in soil
-Rhizopus Stolonifer - black bread mold

Question 19

Glomeromycetes

Answer 19

• phylum glomeromycota
• produce glomerospores
• often arbuscular mycorrhizae with roots >80% of plant species

Question 20

ascomycetes

Answer 20

• phlyum ascomycota
• produce ascospores
• “sac fungi”
• largest # of known species
• very diverse- uni- and multicellular
• pencillium morels and truffles, Baker’s/Brewer’s yeast, component of lichens

Question 21

basidomycetes

Answer 21

• phylum basidiomycetes
• produce basidiospores
• many familiar decomposers (bracket fungi, puff balls, wheat rust, corn smut)
• edible mushrooms
• all sexual

Question 22

lichens

Answer 22

• fungus and photosynthetic microorganism (usually an ascomycete with a green algae)
• provides habitat for microbe growth
• protection, retain water and nutrients
• can grow on rocks, tree, and roots
• fungi + cyanobacteria
• fungi + green algae