Kingdom Fungi Looking at those little things that grow on trees and the ground… Mushrooms & friends

Characteristics Present in marine and terrestrial environments Fungi digests food outside of its body (extracellular): release enzymes into the environment, breaking down organic matter into a form that can be absorbed. Reproduction occurs through fragmentation or through the release of spores from a fruiting body Fungi are generally multi- cellular Aleuria aurantia

Characteristics Heterotrophic – more than species –Digest food outside of their bodies Multicellular, except for yeasts (unicellular) Present all over the world –marine and terrestrial environments Cell walls contain chitin Main body composed of hyphae Sexual and Asexual reproduction

Fungal Anatomy

Most fungi grow as tubular filaments called hyphae (look thread – like). An interwoven mass of hyphae is called a mycelium. The walls of hyphae are often strengthened with chitin Fruiting Body – the spore producing reproductive structure

REPRODUCTION Fungi reproduce by releasing spores from a fruiting body. The spore is released into the air and the wind carries it off to start the next generation.

The Fungal Phylums Kingdom Fungi is divided into 4 phylums: 1.Zygospore Fungi 2.Club Fungi 3.Sac Fungi 4.Imperfect Fungi

Zygospore Fungi –Reproduce both sexually and asexually: –They are Multicellular –Asexually – spores produced in sporangium –Sexually – through + and – strains in the root –The zygospore (a thick wall develops around it and protects it from drying out) lays dormant until conditions are favourable for growth. –Then it absorbs water and underges meiosis Example: bread mould

This is why you do not eat mouldy bread… It’s not bad… it’s just hairy!

Club Fungi  Can be thought of as the typical mushroom  They are connected by the underground mycelium  This includes mushrooms that grow on lawns and puffballs and stinkhorns found on woodland floors.  The fruiting bodies release spores called BASIDIA.

Sac Fungi  Produce spores inside cases  Powdery mildews that grow on leaves and the morels and truffles used in gourmet meals.  Larges group of fungi Examples: Sacharomyces cerevisiae (brewers, bakers, and nutritional yeast)…used to produce popular staples such as bread and beer

Sac Fungi Develop small finger like sacs called ASCI Get nutrition by breaking down materials in wood Other species are parasites of plants, producing leaf curl, chestnut blight, and Dutch Elm disease. Single celled yeast are part of this group of fungi

SAC FUNGI

Imperfect Fungi –“left-overs” that do not fit well into other groups –asexual Example: penicillin, tricophyton (Athlete’s foot), Candida albicans (‘yeast’ infections)

Human Fungus Diseases Ringworm Athlete’s foot Amanita – death cap

Discovery of Penicillin Alexander Fleming was born in Began microbiological research at St. Mary’s campus, London University In the 1920s Fleming was experimenting on bacteria when it was contaminated with a fungal spore

He noticed it killed the bacteria, but due to limited resources he could not purify the chemical that was killing the bacteria Research was resumed in the 1930 when it was purified and used to treat bacterial infections