Fungi are eukaryotic organisms that have cell walls containing chitin. They are either multicellular with hyphae forming a mycelium, or unicellular like yeasts. Fungi obtain nutrients by secreting enzymes to break down dead or living matter and then absorbing the nutrients. They reproduce both asexually through spore formation or sexually through the fusion of gametes. Bread mold is an example of a zygomycete fungus with different hyphae types and a life cycle involving both asexual and sexual reproduction.

1. Kingdom Fungi

2. Characteristics of Fungi
– Fungi are eukaryotic heterotrophs that have cell
walls.
– Their cell walls contain chitin, a complex
carbohydrate.
– Except for yeasts, all fungi are multicellular
– Fungi are made up of thin filaments called
hyphae
– Each hyphae is only one cell thick.

3. Characteristics of Fungi
– The bodies of multicellular fungi are
composed of many hyphae tangled together
into a thick mass called a mycelium.

4. How do Fungi get their food?
• Saprobes – secrete enzymes into dead organic matter
and then absorb the nutrients from the decomposition
• Ex. Mushrooms/ bread mold
• Parasites – secrete enzymes onto things that are alive
and absorb nutrients from the host
• Ex. Ringworm/ “Athlete’s Foot”

5. How do Fungi Reproduce?
– Most fungi reproduce both asexually and
sexually.
– Asexually by spore formation
– Sexually by the fusion of primitive gametes

6. Structure and Function of Bread
Mold
• Black bread mold, Rhizopus stolonifer, is a zygomycete.
(Division Zygomycota)
• Black bread mold has three types of hyphae:
• Rhizoids are rootlike hyphae that penetrate the bread's
surface.
• Stolons are stemlike hyphae that run along the surface of
the bread.
• Sporangiophores are strands of hyphae that support the
spore case

7. Rhizopus
Life Cycle of a Black Bread Mold
FERTILIZATION
MEIOSIS
Sexual
Asexual Reproduction
Reproduction