Fungi

Fungi Fungi are non-motile (they don’t move) heterotrophs (they get food and energy from other organisms). The defining characteristic of fungi is their mode of getting food: “extracellular digestion and absorption”. They secrete digestive enzymes into the environment, then absorb the nutrients released by those enzymes. Most fungi are decomposers: they live on decaying organisms. Some fungi are parasites: they extract food from living organisms.

Fungi Are made up of hyphae and sporangia, which contain the spores Movement - spread through spores, carried by wind / animals, but are static (don’t move around) Respiration - can be aerobic (with oxygen) to produce carbon dioxide and water or anaerobic (without oxygen) to produce carbon dioxide + acid / alcohol e.g. yoghurt production or fermentation using yeast Sensitivity - affected by temperature, pH , chemicals, moisture – produce antibiotics

Diagram of a fungus Spores Sporangium Hyphae

Common Fungi

Mushrooms Mushrooms are the most common club fungi. Others include rusts and smuts that harm crop plants. The visible mushroom is merely a fruiting body. The bulk of the organism is underground, a mat of hyphae (strands) called a mycellium that can be quite large. One example in Oregon covers 2200 acres (3 ½ square miles), to a depth of 3 feet, and it is at least 2400 years old.

Penicillium, the mold that gave penicillin, the first antibiotic, is an ascomycete. Pennicillium also gives flavor to certain cheeses.

Penicillium, a genus of green mold, attacks many fruits and is the source of the antibiotic drug penicillin.