Fungi - General Characteristics, Nutrition And Ecology, Evolution, Classification, Zygomycota, Conjugating Fungi, Ascomycota, Sac Fungi
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Fungi are one of the five kingdoms of organisms. Like higher plants (of the kingdom Plantae), most fungi are attached to the substrate they grow on. Unlike plants, fungi do not have chlorophyll and are not photosynthetic. Another key difference from plants is that fungi have cell walls composed of chitin, a nitrogen containing carbohydrate. All fungi have nuclei and the nuclei of most species are haploid at most times. Many species have two or more haploid nuclei per cell during most of the life cycle. All fungi reproduce asexually by spore production. Most species reproduce sexually as well.
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The different taxonomic groups of fungi have different levels of cellular organization. Some groups, such as the yeasts, consist of single-celled organisms, which have a single nucleus per cell. Some groups, such as the conjugating fungi, consist of single-celled organisms in which each cell has hundreds or thousands of nuclei. Groups such as the mushrooms, consist of multicellular, filamentous or…
Most species of fungi grow on land and obtain their nutrients from dead organic matter. Some fungi are symbionts or parasites on other organisms. The majority of species feed by secreting enzymes, which partially digest the food extracellularly, and then absorbing the partially digested food to complete digestion internally. As with animals, the major storage carbohydrate of fungi is glycogen. Fun…
The Fungi constitute a large and diverse group of organisms. Until the 1960s, fungi were considered members of the plant kingdom. With the advent of the five-kingdom system of biological classification, fungi were assembled into a single kingdom because of their similar ecological roles as primary decomposers of organic matter and their similar anatomical and biochemical features. Recent studies t…
Species in this phylum reproduce sexually by forming a zygospore, a thick-walled, diploid cell which contains thousands of nuclei. There are about 600 species in this phylum. Most species are terrestrial and feed on organic matter, although there are a few parasitic species. The conjugating fungi are coenocytic, in that they have a continuous mycelium, containing hundreds or thousands of haploid n…
Species in this phylum reproduce sexually by forming a spore-filled structure called an ascus, which means
An American fly agaric (Amanita muscaria formosa). This mushroom is very common in all of North America, but is more slender, tinged with a salmon-like coloration, and somewhat more rare in the southern states. Photograph by Robert J. Huffman. Field Mark Publications. Reproduced by permis…
Species in this phylum reproduce sexually by forming spores on top of club-shaped structures called basidia. The club fungi are believed to be closely related to the sac fungi. Both groups have cells which are separated by septa (walls), and both have a dikaryotic phase in their life cycle; a phase with two haploid nuclei per cell. The septum of the club fungi is somewhat different from those of s…
The Deuteromycota is a heterogeneous group of unrelated species in which sexual reproduction has never been observed. Since mycologists refer to the "perfect phase" of a life cycle as the phase in which sexual reproduction occurs, these fungi are often referred to as imperfect fungi. These fungi may have lost their sexual phase through the course of evolution. Alternatively, biologis…
A lichen is a symbiotic relationship between a fungus and an alga, or between a fungus and a photosynthetic cyanobacterium. They constitute a very diverse and polyphyletic group of organisms and are classified together simply because they all result from a fungus-alga symbiosis. In most lichens, the fungal species is in the Ascomycota phylum and the photosynthetic species is a green alga from the …
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User Comments
7 months ago
I developed a NEW way to treat fungus infections.There are many fungicides, however, the patients almost ALWAYS get REINFECTED. I developed tinea cruris (jock itch). I had not been in a pool or a gym for 60 years, consequently, I did not "catch" it there. I welefty2gnt to a drug store to see what they had and found there were a slew of products for fungus infections.
However, I found the solution by accident and got rid of it. Most patients usually get reinfected, consequently, were they ever cured from the beginning? I doubt it.
I discussed my system with the Chief of Dermatology at one of the most famous hospitals in the world. He said that my idea was obvious. It happens that doctors are so used to prescribing something for each symptom, consequently, they do not look for other ways to treat any disease or disorder. It is a habit.
10 months ago
nice content
about 1 year ago
they can pee
about 1 year ago
with the aid of diagram describe the general anotomical features of fungi
almost 4 years ago
i want to know the various classes under the above phyla.
about 1 year ago
lefty2g
What are the ideal conditions needed to support life of saprophytes? (such as....water, absence of light, right temperature conditions, food, and any other characteristics).
I have not found them listed anywhere.
Is absence of light needed, or do fungi grow in lighted areas? Is light TOXIC to fungi? They have no chlorophyll, consequently, they do not need light to survive or is light TOXIC to them.