Feb. 20th (Exam 2)

Question 1

What are the economic concerns surrounding fungi?

Answer 1

1. yeasts
2. food
3. crop diseases
4. human diseases
5. fermentation

Question 2

What are the ecological concerns regarding fungi?

Answer 2

1. interaction with other organisms
2. decomposition
3. succession (change in species composition within a community)

Question 3

Regarding fungi:

How do they get nutrients?

Cell wall structure?

Storage carbohydrate?

Answer 3

1. They are heterotrophic
2. They have cell walls composed of chitin fibrils
3. Glycogen (oftentimes)

Question 4

Regarding fungi:

What features are plant like?

What features are animal like?

Answer 4

Plant like:

1. Sessile
2. Rigid cell wall
3. Growth from spores (some early plants)
4. Have branching filaments (hyphae) that are somewhat like roots

Animal like:

1. Heterotrophic
2. Glycogen storage
3. Chitin in cell walls are analogous to exoskeletons of arthropods
4. Use digestive enzymes

Question 5

What eukaryotic supergroup are animals in?

What is the subgroup that both animals and fungi belong to?

Answer 5

1. Unikonts
2. Opisthokonta`

Question 6

Describe the general structure of fungi.

Answer 6

They can be made of single cells (like yeasts) or as multicellular filaments.

The multicellular filaments are called hyphae

Question 7

What are a bunch of hyphae called?

Answer 7

Mycelium

Question 8

Define hyphae.

Answer 8

These are the threadlike structures that make up the body of the multicellular fungi.

Question 9

Define mycelium.

Answer 9

This is the network of hyphae that form the main body of the fungus.

Question 10

What is the difference between septate and nonseptate hyphae?

Answer 10

1. Septate - have walls called septa that separate the hyphae into sections, each with its own nucleus
2. Nonseptate - there are no walls between sections, so hyphae are long continuous and have many nuclei

Question 11

Describe fungi reproduction.

Answer 11

Can be asexual or sexual by producing spores in one way or another - 100k spores per cubic meter!

Question 12

Describe sexual reproduction of fungi:

What is plasmogamy?

What is a dikaryon?

What is karyogamy?

Answer 12

Plasmogamy is the fusion of cytoplasm of two fungi.

Dikaryon is the idea of two separate genetically distinct nuclei in one cell that follows plasmogamy.

Karyogamy is the fusion of the nuclei of the the two fungal cells after plasmogamy (results in a diploid nucleus

Question 13

Describe asexual spore formation.

Answer 13

Can be produced within a sporangium (enclosed)

Can be produced within a conidia (without enclosure)

Question 14

What are the fungi like protists that we talked about?

What are they actually more closely related to?

Answer 14

1. Slime molds - amoeba
2. Water molds - diatoms/brown algae

Question 15

What are Chitridiomycota?

Answer 15

Type of fungi that are typically parasites of plants animals and other fungi.

Question 16

Why have Chitridiomycota been associated with the world-wide amphibian decline?

Answer 16

They infect the dermal cells of amphibians and cause respiratory issues, as this is how some respirate.

Question 17

What was the basis for the naming of Zygomycota?

Answer 17

They have thick-walled zygosporangium (sexual reproduction)

Question 18

What type of hyphae do the zygomycota have typically?

What is an example of zygomycota?

Answer 18

nonseptate

The rhizopus stolonifer bread mold

Question 19

What is the basis for the naming of ascomycota?

Answer 19

Asci means “sac” i.e “sack fungi”

Question 20

Do ascomycota have septate or nonseptate hyphae?

Answer 20

They have septate hyphae

Question 21

What is the ascocarp?

What is it made of?

Answer 21

This is the fruiting body of the ascomycota where spores are formed and released

Separate dikaryons

Question 22

Describe the sexual reproduction of ascomycota.

Answer 22

1. Karyogamy
2. Then meiosis (spores)
3. Then mitosis

Creates 8 spores

Question 23

What are four examples of ascomycota?

Answer 23

1. Morelles
2. Truffles
3. Brewers/ Bakers yeast
4. Thrush (female)
5. Athletes foot

Question 24

Why does ascomycota include “imperfect fungi”

like what does this mean?

Answer 24

It means that they don’t have a known sexual stage, but their DNA is still linked to ascomycota.

Question 25

What are the three examples of imperfect fungi that belong to ascomycota?

Answer 25

1. Penicillium 2. Aspergillus 3. Geomyces destructans

Question 26

Describe penicilllium

Answer 26

This is the source of the antibiotic penicillin - also a component of cheese

Question 27

Describe aspergillus

Answer 27

This can cause a lung infection - you know it. Found in compost heaps

Question 28

Describe the geomyces destructans

Answer 28

Causes white nose syndrome in the insect eating bats - kills all of them nearly

Question 29

What is the basis for the naming of the fungi Basidiomycota?

Answer 29

Their spores are produced on basidium - club like or peg like "club like fungi"

Question 30

What is the sporulating body called and what is it made of?

Answer 30

It is called the basidiocarp and it is made of separate dikaryon (septate)

Question 31

Explain the sexual reproduction of the basidiomycota. AKA how are the basidiospores made?

Answer 31

Karyogamy and then meiosis occur within the basidium to make them.

Question 32

What are examples of basidiomycota?

Answer 32

1. Most mushrooms 2. Puffballs 3. Plant pathogens like rusts and smuts

Question 33

What are the various ecological roles of fungi?

Answer 33

1. Parasitic - like rusts/smuts and also chitridiomycota and some ascomycota 2. Mutualistic symbiont (benefit host) - mycorrhizal fungi 3. Saprobe - nutrients from non-living stuff (mushrooms/puffballs)

Question 34

What is the idea of mycorrhizae? What do plants get? What do fungi get?

Answer 34

This is the symbiotic relationship between plant roots and fungi. Fungi aid the plant in absorption of mineral nutrient and water by increasing surface area of roots, plant aids fungi by giving substrate to live on and giving it sugars and amino acids.

Question 35

What are the two types of mycorrhizae?

Answer 35

Ecto - form mantle around the root e.g mostly basidiomycetes Endo - hyphae penetrate the plant cell walls

Question 36

What are the two structures (endo/ecto) that help the plant absorb nutrients?

Answer 36

Ecto - Hartig nets endo - Arbuscle

Question 37

What are lichens?

Answer 37

This is a symbiotic relationship between fungi and cyanobacteria or green algae.

Question 38

Who benefits more typically?

Answer 38

Fungi, most algae can exist on their own

Question 39

What is very unique about lichens?

Answer 39

Because of their symbiotic relationship, they can survive extreme conditions that they might not otherwise be able to.

Question 40

What type of "fungi" caused the Late Blight of the Potato

Answer 40

Water mold which belongs to oomycota

Question 41

What are the characteristics of the Rusts (plant disease causing fungi)? Where are they common to?

Answer 41

Most of them require two hosts to complete their life cycle. Cereal grains

Question 42

Talk about the requirements of the fungus "Cedar rust fungus" and its life cycle.

Answer 42

1. Requires the juniper (cedar) to overwinter surviving the harsh conditions 2. When conditions are right, they infect the apple tree where they can actually sexual recombine and then infect the juniper again. *leaves and fruit of apple

Question 43

What are other diseases that we talked about?

Answer 43

1. Corn smut (one host) delicacy 2. Dutch elm (beetles then elm) 3. Sudden oak

Question 44

What approaches can be used to control fungal diseases without the widespread use of fungicides?

Answer 44

The most important methods for controlling fungal diseases without fungicides are using resistant plant varieties and practicing crop rotation. These approaches disrupt the pathogen's life cycle and make plants more resilient to infections.