Chapter 24: Fungi Flashcards
Most fungi are →
saprophytes
• Break down dead organic material from the
environment with the release of digestive enzymes
• Absorb the nutrients through osmotrophy
Fungi acts as a →
decomposers
• Critical elements from dead organisms are released
back into the environment
• Now available for living organisms
Many fungi are →
pathogens
• Can infect commercial → crops
• Human infections are → limited
• Referred to as → mycosis
mycosis
a disease caused by an infection with a fungus
Some fungi have symbiotic relationships with other
organisms
Mycorrhizae are a type of fungus that associates with
the roots of plants
Yeasts, which are a single-celled fungi, are essential for
industrial products that require →
fermentation
• Ex. Bread, wine, cheese, beer, and soy sauce
• Also commercial organic acids
• Important for the manufacturing of antibiotics and
other medications
• Research tools
Thallus
is the body of the fungi
• Yeasts are single-celled and molds are multicellular
Yeasts have
a single nucleus and reproduce either asexually by budding and transverse division
• They can reproduce sexually through spore formation
Mold thallus consist of
hyphae
• Long, branched, threadlike filaments
• Forms a tangled mass of → mycelium
Coenocytic or aseptate hyphae
Protoplasm streams lengthwise through the hyphae,
uninterrupted by cross walls
Septate hyphae
• Have cross walls called septa
• Single or multiple pores that enable cytoplasmic
streaming
Hyphae have a cell wall that ___
surrounds the plasma
membrane
• Creates a large surface area of nutrient absorption
Asexual reproduction
• Parent cell undergoes mitosis and divides into daughter
cells
• Mitosis in vegetative cells may occur at the same time
as budding to produce a smaller daughter cell
• Asexual spore formation may also occur for dispersal
Arthroconidia (arthrospores)
formed when hyphae →
fragment
Sporangiospores
develop within a sporangium sac at a
hyphal tip
