Transcript fungi - Ms. Dawkins

FUNGI
A mushroom walks into a bar and the
bartender yells at him to get out.
The mushroom replies “Oh come on,
I’m a Fun Guy!”
Can be both multicellular and unicellular
3 main Characteristics
Heterotrophs - like animal cells

feed by absorbing food
Cell walls – like plant cells
Use Spores to reproduce
Hyphae: threadlike tubes that make up a
fungi’s body.
 gives the fungus it’s structure.
 Similar to roots because they obtain
nutrients from the ground.
 Fungi will look differently depending on
arrangement of the hyphae.
Tightly packed hyphae make a mushroom
look like a solid
Loosely packed hyphae look like fuzz (food)
Eating
1. Hyphae grows into a food source
2. Injects acid to dissolve everything
3. Then sucks it back up

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Example: The way Flies eat or how
birds feed their babies.
Can be parasitic due to this – b/c can
cause harm to “food source”
Reproduction
Fungi usually reproduce by making
spores

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Surrounded by protective particles like an
“armor”
“Armor” around spores are structures called
Fruiting Bodies that make the spores.
Very small, like dust particles
Move around by wind
Only go into “spore phase” in bad conditions
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Tent rain cover
Protective cover but mobile
Reproduction
2 ways to reproduce
1. Sexually – when conditions are bad
2 Hyphae from opposite fungus connect making a
fruiting body which makes a spore.
They do this when conditions are bad in hopes to
reproduce a fungus that has a mutated gene that can
survive the harsher environment.
2. Asexually – when adequate moisture and food

Mushrooms
Budding – The cells at end of hyphae divide and form
spores that are exact copies of parent cells.
Categories
Club Fungi –

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Most poisonous
group
Examples
Mushrooms
Rusts
Puffballs
Categories
Sac Fungi
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Largest group of fungi
Some cause plant
diseases
Examples
Yeast
Truffles
Categories
Zygote Fungi

Examples
bread molds
fruit molds
insect molds
Fungi in Nature
Fungi are the decomposers and recyclers
on Earth.

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Some provide food
Some cause disease
Some fight disease
Some live in symbiosis (3 types)
1) Mutualism – both benefit
2) Commensalism – neither are harmed or helped
3) Parasitism – one lives as a parasite on the other
Recycling
Fungi break down chemicals in dead
organisms which return important nutrients
in the soil.
Food
Yeast

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Feeds on sugar in the dough of bread and
makes carbon dioxide. (sourdough bread)
Feeds on sugar in grapes to make carbon
dioxide and alcohol. (wine)
Molds

“Blue” in Blue cheese is Penicillium roqueforti
Mushrooms
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Portabella, button
Disease Fighting
*Alexander Fleming*

Scottish Scientist in 1928
Observed bluish-green mold in Petri dish
kill bacteria near it
First antibiotic developed – called Penicillin.
Since Penicillin many antibiotics
found from molds & fungi
Disease Causing Fungi
Many are parasites on
plants

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Dutch elm
Corn Smut
Wheat rust
Many more affect rice,
cotton, etc.
Athlete’s Foot
Ringworm

Can easily spread from
person to person
Fungus-Plant Associations
Fungi are attached to roots of plants
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Hyphae spread out underground and
absorbs nutrients and water
Plant grows larger & fungi feeds on
extra food plant makes
Some plants can’t live without fungal
partner
Lichens
Lichens – a fungus and either algae or
autotrophic bacteria that live in mutualism.

Algae or bacteria makes the food and fungus
provides minerals and shelter
Examples: irregular, flat, crusty patches on tree
barks or rocks

Called “pioneer” organisms
Usually first to appear on bare rocks after a
volcano, fire, rock slide

Air Pollution Monitors
Very sensitive to pollutants
Scientists observe growth to assess air quality
Lichens