FUNGI

Introduction:
The fungi (singular, fungus) are a group of eukaryotic organisms that are of
great practical and scientific interest to microbiologists. Scientists who study
fungi are mycologists [Greek mykes, mushroom, and logos, science] and the
scientific discipline devoted to fungi is called mycology. According to the
universal phylogenetic tree, fungi are members of the domain Eucarya.

General Characteristics:
 Fungi are primarily terrestrial organisms, although a few are freshwater or marine.
Many are pathogenic and infect plants and animals.
 Fungi also form beneficial relationships with other organisms. For example, the vast
majority of vascular plant roots form associations (called mycorrhizae) with fungi.
 Fungi also are found in the upper portions of many plants. These endophytic fungi
affect plant reproduction and palatability to herbivores.
 Fungi are achlorophyllous, which means they lack the chlorophyll pigments present in
the chloroplasts in plant cells and which are necessary for photosynthesis.
 The cell membrane of a fungus has a unique sterol and ergosterol.
 Fungi are heterotrophic organisms. They obtains its food and energy from organic
substances, plant and animal matters.
 Optimum temperature of growth for most saprophytic fungi is 20-30°C while (30-
37)°C for parasitic fungi.
 Fungi exhibit the phenomenon of alteration of generation. They have both haploid
and diploid stage.
 Growth rate of fungi is slower than that of bacteria.
 The structure of cell wall is similar to plants but chemically the fungi cell wall are
composed of chitin.
 Lichens are associations of fungi and photosynthetic protists or Cyanobacteria.
 They are typically non-motile.
 There is no embryonic stage for fungi.
 Some fungi are macroscopic and can be seen by naked eyes. Mold or mushrooms are
examples of macroscopic form of fungi.
 Reproduction in fungi is both by sexual and asexual means.
 Sexual state is referred to as teleomorph (fruiting body), asexual state is referred to
as anamorph (mold like).
 Pheromone is a chemical substance produced by fungi, which leads to the sexual
reproduction between male and female fungi cells. Note: During the second wave of
Covid-19 in India it was revealed
that the use of
immunosuppressant to combat
 Reproduction occurs by both asexual (Axamorph) and sexual (Teliomorph) mode:
Asexual methods: fragmentation, fsomatic budding, fission, asexual spore formation
Sexual methods: Gametic copulation, Gamate-Gametangium Opulation,
Gametangium copulation, somatic copulation and Spermatization.

Morphology:
 A typical Fungi consists of a mass of branched, tubular filaments enclosed by a
rigid cell wall.
 The fungal cell wall is a complex and flexible structure composed basically of chitin,
α- and β- linked glucans, glycoproteins, and pigments.
 The filaments, called hyphae (singular hypha), branch repeatedly into a complicated,
radially expanding network called the mycelium, which makes up the thallus, or
undifferentiated body, of the typical fungus.
 The mycelium grows by utilizing nutrients from the environment and, upon reaching
a certain stage of maturity, forms—either directly or in special fruiting bodies—
reproductive cells called spores.
 Nutrition:
 Most fungi are saprophytes, securing their nutrients from dead organic material.
Parasitic fungi do so by feeding on living organisms (usually plants), thus causing
disease.
 Like many bacteria and protists, fungi release hydrolytic exoenzymes that digest
external substrates.
 They are chemoorganoheterotrophs and use organic compounds as a source of
carbon, electrons, and energy.
 Glycogen is the primary storage polysaccharide in fungi.
 Like many bacteria and protists, fungi release hydrolytic exoenzymes that digest
external substrates. They then absorb the soluble products—a process sometimes
called osmotrophy.
 Fungi use carbohydrates (preferably glucose or maltose) and nitrogenous compounds
to synthesize their own amino acids and proteins.
 Fungi usually are aerobic. Some yeasts, however, are facultatively anaerobic and can
obtain energy by fermentation.

Reproduction:
 Reproduction in fungi can be either asexual or sexual. Asexual reproduction is
accomplished in several ways:
o A parent cell can undergo mitosis and divide into two daughter cells by a
central constriction and formation of a new cell wall.
o Mitosis in vegetative cells may be concurrent with budding to produce a
daughter cell. This is very common in the yeasts.
o The most common method of asexual reproduction is spore production.
 There are several types of asexual spores: Arthrospores, Chlamydospores,
Sporangiospores, Conidiospores, Blastospores.
 In fungi, sexual reproduction often occurs in response to adverse environmental
conditions. Two mating types are produced. When both mating types are present in
the same mycelium, it is called homothallic, or self-fertile. Heterothallic mycelia
require two different, but compatible, mycelia to reproduce sexually.
 Sexual reproduction in fungi occurs in three stages. First, haploid cells of compatible
mating types fuse (Plasmogamy). This is followed by the fusion of the two haploid
nuclei (Karyogamy). The newly-produced diploid cell can undergo meiosis to
regenerate haploid cells, and this often is as a response to nutrient limitation
(Neiman, 2011).
 The preliminary fusion of haploid cells requires that the cells be of compatible
(usually opposite) mating type, much in the same way that two sperm or two eggs do
not naturally fuse to form a zygote.
 This sexual mode of reproduction in fungi is referred to as teleomorph and are of
four types: Ascospores, Basidiospores, Oospores, Zygospores.

The fungal kingdom currently consists of Eight major groups (phyla): Microsporidia,
Blastocladiomycota, Neocallimastigomycota, Chytridiomycota, Glomeromycota,
Zygomycota, Ascomycota, and Basidiomycota (the Zygomycota are a mishmash of
groups that are not necessarily closely related).
 Phycomycetes
Phycomycetes are found throughout the world in soil, in animal manure, and on fruits.
Fungi of this class frequently are found in refrigerators and are commonly known as Bread
Molds.

General Characteristics:
 The Phycomycetes include a group known as The terrestrial Phycomycetes, which are
inhabitants of soil.
 Although soil is by far the most common habitat of the fungi as a whole, many are
aquatic. These Fungi are known collectively as water molds or Aquatic Phycomycetes.
 Phycomycetes in not possessing motile flagellated Reproductive cells. They are thus
permanently immotile.
 Phycomycetes are classified into Oomycetes and Zygomycetes.
 The mycelium is coenocytic. Centrioles are absent.
 Most of these live on decaying plant and animal matter found on the substrate.
 They are usually recognized by their profuse, rapidly growing hyphae, but some exhibit a
unicellular, yeast-like form of growth.
 Sexual reproduction is by gametangial contact.
 Asexual reproduction is by means of spores produced in sporangia borne on the
hyphae (Zoospores, Aplanospores, Few Chlamydospores and few very rare
Conidiospores)
 Examples: Rhizopus, Mucor, Albugo, Saprolegnia, Pilobolus etc.
Reproduction:
 Sexual reproduction requires two thalli of different mating types.
 When both mating thalli are present, the hyphal tips differentiate into
progametangia which come into contact and develop into gametangia by the
formation of septa.
 The walls between two gametangia then dissolve and their protoplasts coalesce.
Nuclei of both mating types fuse in pairs, producing many zygote nuclei.
 The structure that contains them is then called a coenozygote. The wall of the
coenozygote soon thickens, turns black, and becomes rough; it develops into the
Zygospore.
 Upon germination, meiosis takes place, the Zygospore breaks open, and a single
sporangiophore bearing a germ sporangium at its tip emerges.
 The germ sporangium is similar to an asexually produced sporangium. Some germ
sporangia contain spores all of one mating type (either plus or minus), but others
contain spores of both mating types in about equal numbers.
 Basidiomycetes
The Basidiomycota (colloquially basidiomycetes) are a large group of fungi with over
30,000 species. They include many familiar mushrooms and toadstools, bracket fungi,
puffballs, earth balls, earth stars, stinkhorns, false truffles, jelly fungi and some less familiar
forms. Also classified here are the rust and smut fungi, which are pathogens of higher
plants and may cause serious crop diseases.

General Characteristics:
 Most basidiomycetes are terrestrial with wind-dispersed spores, but some grow in
freshwater or marine habitats.
 Many are saprotrophic and are involved in litter and wood decay.
 The mycelium of basidiomycetes may be very long-lived.
 Two or more basidiospores are produced by the basidium, and basidia may be held
within fruiting bodies called basidiocarps.
 The main reproductive organ of Basidiomycetes is Basidium.
 The Basidiomycetes do not contain sex organs. Sexual reproduction is accomplished
by plasmogamy and karyogamy and Karyogamy is directly followed by meiosis.
 In Basidiomycetes, the septal pore is very complex (except for rusts and smuts). It is
dolipore parenthesome type.
 Basidia are mostly cup-shaped cells with four small outgrowths called sterigmata. The
sterigmata produce one spore each.
 Another unique feature of basidiomycetes is the presence of clamp connections in
many species.
 Clamps are the outgrowths at the septa of the hyphae. They help the nuclei behave
correctly during cell division.
 Most of the genera contain Dolipore septa.
 Some of the Basidiomycota are asexual reproducers.
 The Basidiomycota are divided into three classes: the rusts (Pucciniomycotina), the smuts
(Ustilagomycotina), and the rest (Agaricomycotina).
 Examples: Mushrooms, Puffballs, Stinkhorns, Rusts, and Smuts etc.
 The mycelium of Basidiomycetes moves through 3 different stages such as the
primary, the secondary, and the tertiary stage before the fungus completes its life
cycle.
Types of Basidiomycetes mycelium:
o Primary mycelium: It develops from the basidiospore. It composed of
uninucleate cells and hence they are termed as homokarion, although, the first
stage of the primary mycelium may be multinucleate but then septa formation
divides it into uninucleate cells. It carries a single haploid (n) nucleus in each
cell. It shows neither sex organs nor any basidia and basidiospores. It is short-
lived.
o Secondary mycelium: It develops from the fusion of two uninucleate cells of
primary mycelium; the process of confertion of primary mycelium into
secondary mycelium called as dicariotization or dipodization. The basidia
formed from binucleate cells of secondary mycelium. The primary food
absorbing phase and made of cells each comprising 2 haploid nuclei (n+n). It
is long-lived and performs a leading role in the life cycle.
o Tertiary mycelium: The secondary mycelium in some higher basidiomycetes
organized into complex tissues to develop sporophores or basidiocarps, this
stage known as tertiary mycelium.

Economic Importance:
 As saprotrophs, basidiomycetes play a vital role in recycling nutrients but they also cause
severe damage as agents of timber decay, e.g. dry rot of house timbers by Serpula
lacrymans.
 Common woodland mushrooms such as species of Amanita, Boletus and their allies grow in
a mutually symbiotic relationship with the roots of trees, forming ectotrophic (sheathing)
mycorrhiza.
 The fruit bodies (basidiocarps) of many mushrooms are edible, and some are grown
commercially for food, notably Agaricus bisporus.
 Basidiomycetes are well known for their production of a wide variety of interesting
secondary products noted for their scents, tastes, colors and toxic properties. ‘Amydalina’
and ‘Malodora’ are named for their almond or noxious odors. Globiformes graveolens is
used in air freshener.
 Mycelia of basidiomycetes fungi play a significant role in the decomposition of organic
matter and recycling of nutrients. It is because they bear the ability to produce various
extracellular enzymes which break down complex chemicals like cellulose and lignin.
 Ascomycetes
The phylum Ascomycota (colloquially called ascomycetes) is by far the largest group of fungi,
estimated to include more than 32,000 described species in 3400 genera (Kirk et al.,2001). The
name is derived from the Greek words askos (a leather bottle, bag or bladder) and mykes (a
fungus), so ascomycetes are Sac fungi.

General Characteristics:
 Most of the members are terrestrial, although a large number lives in fresh and
marine waters.
 The majority of ascomycetes are saprophytic, others necrotrophic or biotrophic
parasites of plants and animals, including humans.
 Many ascomycetes grow as endophytes in symptomless associations with plants.
 Yeasts and other a few members (e.g. Taphrina) are unicellular, but almost all other
members of this group have a well-developed, profusely branched, and septate
mycelium with uni- or multinucleate cells and perforated septa.
 The mycelium of an ascomycete is effectively coenocytic.
 Proteinaceous organelles termed Woronin Bodies (Buller, 1933) may be closely
grouped near the central pore (Fig. 8.3).
 In unicellular forms, the cell wall is composed of glucans and mannans, whereas in
septate forms it consists of chitin and glucans.
 Asexual reproduction takes place by various types of non-motile spores, such as
oidia, chlamydospores, and conidia. In unicellular forms, fission, fragmentation, and
budding are the most common methods of propagation.
 They are homothallic or heterothallic.
 In some heterothallic species, though male (antheridium) and female (ascogonium)
sex organs develop on the thallus of the same strain, they are self-incompatible. In
these species, male gamete of one mating type fertilises ascogonium of other mating
type.
 Sexual reproduction takes place by
o Gametangial copulation (e.g., yeast)
o Gametangial contact (e.g., Aspergillus, Penicillium, Erysiphe),
o Somatogamy (e.g., Peziza, Morchella)
o Spermatization (e.g., Polystigma).
 The sexual spore is haploid called ascospore, which is formed endogenously by free
cell formation after karyogamy and meiosis within a sac-like or cylindrical structure
referred to as an ascus.
 The main, defining character for the Ascomycota is their production of sexual spores in cells
called asci. The asci are normally found in a tissue called the hymenium. Here the asci sit
parallel to each other, often intermixed with sterile hyphae called paraphyses.
 A single ascus usually contains eight spores though numbers may vary from one to
several thousand.
 Historically, the Ascomycota were divided into formgroups based on the appearance of the
fruiting bodies: species with open fruiting bodies were called discomycetes, and species
 with partially closed fruiting bodies pyrenomycetes. More popular names attached to these
same form groups are cup fungi and flask fungi.
 The asci and spores of ascomycetes vary greatly.
 The Ascomycota may shoot the spores up into the air with great force. Often spores from
many thousands of asci are released simultaneously, resulting in a cloud of spores arising
from the hymenium accompanied by a hissing sound. This is called puffing and is generally
initiated by a change in temperature above the fruiting body.
 Examples: Yeast, Verticillium, Monascus, Aspergillus nidulans etc.
 Development of asci:
 The morphogenesis of asci and ascospores has been reviewed by Read and Beckett (1996).
 In yeasts and related fungi, the ascus arises directly from a single cell, but in most other
ascomycetes it develops from a specialized hypha, the ascogenous hypha, which in turn
develops from an ascogonium.
 The ascogenous hypha of many ascomycetes is multinucleate, and its tip is recurved to form
a crozier (shepherd’s crook).
 Within the ascogenous hypha, nuclear division occurs simultaneously.
 Two septa at the tip of the crozier cut off a terminal uninucleate cell and a penultimate
binucleate cell.
 Repeated proliferation of the tip of the crozier can result in a tight cluster of asci in many
ascomycetes or a succession of well-separated asci.
 In the ascus initial the two nuclei fuse and the diploid fusion nucleus undergoes meiosis to
form four haploid daughter nuclei.
 These nuclei then undergo a mitotic division so that eight haploid nuclei result.
The eight nuclei may divide further mitotically so that each ascospore is binucleate, or, if
still more mitoses follow, the ascospore becomes multinucleate.
 Deuteromycetes
To a large degree, classical fungal taxonomy is based on specific patterns of sexual
reproduction. When a fungus lacks the sexual phase (perfect stage), or if this phase has not been
observed, it is placed within the class Deuteromycota, commonly called the Fungi Imperfecti or
deuteromycetes (“secondary fungi”). It is considered an artificial class of fungi.

General Characteristics:
 Most Fungi Imperfecti are terrestrial, with only a few being reported from freshwater and
marine habitats.
 The majority are either saprophytes or parasites of plants. A few are parasitic on other
fungi.
 Some of them are unicellular while the others are multicellular.
 Most Deuteromycota have a well-developed, septate mycelium with distinct conidiophores
but some have a unicellular thallus.
 The reproduce asexually by conidia along with some other types of spores via mitosis. This
asexual state is also called the anamorph state.
 Conidia may be spherical, ovoid, elongated, star-shaped and so on.
 The sexual reproduction is entirely absent.
 Most food spoilage and fungal human diseases are caused by members of this group.
 Imperfect fungi directly affect human welfare. Several are human pathogens, causing such
diseases as athlete’s foot, ringworm, and histoplasmosis.
 The chemical activities of many Fungi Imperfecti are important industrially. For example,
some species of Penicillium synthesize the well-known antibiotics penicillin and griseofulvin.
 Different species of Aspergillus are used to ferment soy sauce and to manufacture citric,
gluconic, and gallic acids.
 Examples: Penicillium, Aspergillus, Alternaria, Fusarium, Helminthosporium etc.