Fungi have several key characteristics: their cell walls contain chitin, they are heterotrophs that decompose organic matter, and their bodies are made of long filaments called hyphae that form a mycelium. They reproduce both sexually through the fusion of hyphae and asexually via spores. There are five major phyla of fungi: Zygomycota, Oomycota, Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, and Deuteromycota. Examples of fungi from these phyla include bread molds, water molds, cup fungi, mushrooms, and fungi imperfecti. Fungi play important ecological roles as decomposers and through symbiotic relationships

4. Fungal CharacteristicsFungal Characteristics
1)Cell wall made of Chitin
2)Heterotrophs and major Decomposers
3)Body is made of Long filaments of hyphae
which form a mycelium
4)Reproduce sexually and asexually
Asexually by spores
Sexually by mating of hyphae filaments

5. An example of Fungi You know

6. Mushrooms – “Club Like” Fungi or Basidiomycete Fungi

7. Bracket Fungi – Basidiomycete Fungi

8. Bread Mold – a
Zygomycete Fungi

9. Cup Fungi – Ascomycete Fungi
Note the cup shapes and
orange peel colour

10. Kingdom Fungi – you must know 5 Major Phyla
1. Phylum Zygomycota = the Bread Molds
Rhizopus – black bread mold
2. Oomycota = the Water Molds
Water mold, potato blight, mildew
3. Phylum Ascomycota = the Sac Fungi
Yeast, morels, truffles
4. Phylum Basidiomycota = the Club Fungi
Mushrooms, puffballs, bracket fungi, rusts, smuts,
toadstools
5. Phylum Deuteromycota = the Fungi Imperfecti

11. -are primarily decomposers
-asexual spores may be produced in sporangia
-sexual reproduction occurs between + and – strains forming
a 2n zygote; a zygospore develops and may lie dormant for a
long period of time; meiosis occurs just before germination
-only the zygote is diploid; all hyphae and asexual
spores are haploid
Zygomycota (Rhizopus) the
Common Molds

12. Zygomycota – common molds
The fungal mass of
hyphae, known as the
MYCELIUM
penetrates the bread
and produces the
fruiting bodies on top
of the stalks
Mycelia = a mass of hyphae or
filaments

13. Rhizoids = root-like hyphae
The zhizoids meet underground and mating occurs between
hyphae of different molds (SEXUAL REPRODUCTION)

14. Zygomycota (Rhizopus)

16. Lifecycle of a Zygomycete Fungi – Asexual then Sexual

17. Ascomycota – Cup Fungi Life Cycle

18. Yeast is an Ascomycete Fungus

19. Truffles are round, warty, fungi
that are irregular in shape. They
vary from the size of a walnut to
that of a man's fist. Since the times
of the Greeks and Romans these
fungi have been used in Europe as
delicacies, as aphrodisiacs, and as
medicines. They are among the
most expensive of the world's
natural foods, often commanding as
much as $250 to $450 per pound.
Truffles are harvested in Europe with the aid of female pigs or truffle
dogs, which are able to detect the strong smell of mature truffles
underneath the surface of the ground. The female pig becomes excited
when she sniffs a chemical that is similar to the male swine sex
attractant. The use of dogs to find truffles is also and option.

20. Morels are Ascomycete Fungi

21. Basidiomycete or Club Fungi

22. Life Cycle of Basidiomycete Fungi

23. Bracket Fungi
Puff Balls
Mushrooms
Jelly Fungi
Basidiomycete Fungi that all
produce Basiospores

24. Other Basidiomycetes Rusts and
Smuts
Rust
infecting
wheat leaves Rust infecting
a Leaf
Whitrot Smut
digesting old wood

25. -Regarded as imperfect because they exhibit no sexual stage has
been observed in their life cycle
-Members are not closely related and are not necessarily similar
in structure or appearance; do not share a common ancestry,
polyphyletic = coming from many ancestors – hmm weird 
Deuteromycota (Imperfect Fungi)

26. Deuteromycota – the Fungi
Imperfecti
• Resemble Ascomycetes,
but their reproductive
cycle has never been
observed
• Different from
Ascomycetes because
there is a definite lack of
sexual reproduction,
which is why they are
called Imperfect Fungi
Penicillium fungi
Up Close

27. Water Molds -- Oomycota
The water molds are better known as the
MILDEWS. Fish tank fuzz is an example.
Protist-like mold because share common
characteristics with plant-like protists, such
as the cell wall

28. LifeCycle of Oomycota

29. Things to Know about Oomycete
Fungi
1. Water molds or mildews
2. Cause diseases such as potato blight
3. Cell walls made of cellulose (like plant)
4. Hyphae have multiple nuclei! Because
the cell walls do not fully close off.
5. Spore swims away like a flagellate, which
is why it is protist like (think of Euglena)

30. Irish Potato Famine of 19th
Century
Devastated potato crops, causing
devastating starvation in Ireland 

32. Phylum Ex’s Characterist
ics
Asexual Sexual
Oomycota Mildew
Spud
blight
Cellulose cell
walls, 2N
hyphae
Flagellated
oospores
from
sporangia
Gametes fuse
in
gametangia
creating
oospores
Zygomycota Rhizopus
a dung
fungus
Chitin cell
walls
Coenocytic =
hyphae lack
crosswalls
Unflagel.
spores drop
from
sporangia
Gametangia
fuse to create
zygospore
Ascomycota Yeast,
morels,
truffles
Conidia on
conidophores
Hyphae + & -
fuse to create
ascospores in
ascus

33. Basidiomycota Mushroo
ms
Puffballs,
rusts,
smuts
Cross
walls in
hyphae
Asexual by way
of Conidophores
which produce
conidiospores
Sexual when
hyphae fuse
in BASIDIA
to produce
basidiospores
Fungi
Imperfecti
Deuteromycota
Penicilliu
m,
Athlete’s
Foot
fungus,
Tomato
Blight
Similar
To
Basidio
and
Zygomy
Asexual by
conidia which
produce
conidophores
Sexual repro
Not known

34. Cross Walls of Hyphae
c
o
e
n
o
c
y
t
i
c
h
Coenocytic hyphae where the
nucleis of each cell is
embedded in the cytoplasm
without a cell wall
Eg. Zygomycota, Oomycota
Hyphae with cross walls
Eg. Basidiomycota,
Ascomycota

35. Lichens are mutualistic symbiotic
organisms. They have an
____________ fungus and a
_________ or cyanobacterial
portion. There are three lichen
growth forms which are predominant
in nature: _____________________
_____________________________
LichensLichens

36. Crustose
Foliose
Fruticose

37. Mycorrhizae
Mycorrhizae means “fungus-root”;
mutualistic relationship between
plant and fungi
The plant photosynthesizes while
the fungus more efficiently takes
up nutrients and water from the
rhizosphere than the roots would
alone.
Plant benefits include:
•Improved nutrient/water
uptake
•Improved root growth
•Improved plant growth and
yield
•Improved disease resistance
•Reduced transplant shock
•Reduced drought stress

38. Soredia are the asexual reproductive part of lichens,
containing both symbionts. Rhizines may be present to
anchor the lichen. Notice the distinctive algal layer
and the fungal layer present in the above illustration.

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