Penicillin....an important fungi discovery.. |
As decomposers...fungi clean up!! |
Find out where fungi live and grow. |
Lean the parts of mushroom by moving the mouse over the picture. |
How about going on a fungi TREASURE HUNT. |
Click left to view site one site about Lichens. Click on the word for another site. |
FUNGI |
CHARACTERISTICS OF FUNGI: 1. Eukaryotic 2. non-vascular organisms 3. reproduce by means of spores, usually wind-disseminated. 4. both sexual (meiotic) and asexual (mitotic) spores may be produced, depending on the species and conditions. 5. typically NOT MOTILE, although a few (e.g. Chytrids) have a motile phase. 6. like plants, fungi have an alteration of generations. 7. vegetative body may be unicelluar (yeasts) or composed of microscopic threads called hyphae. 8. cell walls similar in structure to plants but differ in chemical composition..fungi cell walls are composed of mostly of chitin..plant cell walls are composed mostly of cellulose (plus lignin in secondary walls). 9. cytoplasmic ultrastructure broadly similar to plants cells, but differ significantly in kinds of organelles and their structures. |
Divisions of Classification for Fungi....based on reproductive structures. |
Growth cycle of a mushroom |
Bread molds |
Yeasts and sac fungi |
Club fungi |
Food Getting: Fungi are saprobes and parasites. They practice extracellular digestion by releasing enzymes into the environment and absorbing the dissolved material. Some live as symbiots as found in lichens. Lichens are fungi living with cyanobacteria (formerly blue green algae) in mutualism. |
Structure of a fungi: Fungi grow as filament called hyphae (singular hypha) and when these grow in mass they are referred to as a mycelium (plural, mycelia). Some fungi have septa or cross walls which divide the filament into compartments containing a single nucleus. Whe filaments lack septa they are then a multinucleated mass or coenocytic. The cell walls of a fungus are made up of chitin, the same material found in the shells of arthropods. |
Deuteromycetes are imperfect fungi which have lost the sexual reproductive portion of their life cycles. Penicllium, our source of penicillen, is this type of fungus. |
Parts of a mushroom: Cap (pileus)...umbrella shaped portion and on the underside are the gills, slit like structures housing the spores. Gills...produce the spores. Stipe...the short stalk-like structure which supports the cap. annulus...a ring of tissue on the stipe of a mushroom formed by the rupture of a membrane connecting the cap to the stipe. |
Click left to view site one site about Lichens. Click on the word for another site. |
Middle School Fungi Click on the BLUE word(s) to explore the world of fungi. |
How about going on a fungi TREASURE HUNT. |
Lean the parts of mushroom by moving the mouse over the picture. |
Find out where fungi live and grow. |
As decomposers...fungi clean up!! |
Penicillin....an important fungi discovery.. |
