CLASSIFICATION OF FUNGI II

Some fungi can live in harsh environments growing best at temperatures up to 50ºC. Some thermophiles
live in compost piles and garbage dumps where bacteria produce high temperatures.

Psychrophilous fungi are those that grow best in cold conditions, in the range of -10ºC to -15ºC.

Some fungi inhabit extreme latitudes and altitudes. The Arctic tundra contains many species of all classes
of fungi. A few species can grow on frozen food. They can be stopped only at temperatures below -15ºC.

Xerophilous fungi include those that grow in materials that bind water firmly like jams, jellies, leather,
dry fruits and dry grains. They draw water from their substrates by producing high concentration of
solutes, sugar alcohols and mannitol.

SLIME MOLDS

Slime molds are heterotrophic organisms once regarded as fungi.

Plasmodial slime molds and cellular slime molds are unrelated.

Although referred to as molds, molecular evidence demonstrates that neither the plasmodial nor the
cellular slime molds closely related to the fungi.

Division Myxomycota.

Myxomycetes are also known as plasmodial slime molds.

The name myxomycete comes from the Greek words myxa (slime) and myketes (fungi), and was first
used in 1833 to describe the group.

However, some biologists have felt that the slime molds are more animal-like, naming them Mycetezoa,
from the Greek mykes (fungus) and zoon (animal).

 Myxomycetes are a group of about 700 species not closely related to any other group.

 The slime mold moves about as a mass of protoplasm (the plasmodium) feeding on bacteria,
spores and other organic matter, much like an amoeba.

 It lacks cell wall.

 The plasmodium is a membrane-bound single cell containing multiple nuclei (coenocytic). The
plasmodium is usually diploid.

 As the plasmodium grows, the nuclei divide repeatedly and synchronously.

 Centrioles are present and mitosis is similar to that of plants.

 The moving plasmodium is fan-shaped with flowing protoplasmic tubules that are thicker at the
base of the fan and spread out.
  The tubules are composed of slightly solidified protoplasm through which more liquefied
protoplasm flows rapidly.

 The foremost edge of the plasmodium consists of a thin film of gel separated from the substrate
by only a plasma membrane and a slime sheath.

 Myxomycetes in the feeding stage are most often found under the bark of decaying logs or
between layers of leaf litter.

 Plasmodia may be white or bright red, orange or yellow.

 When the food supply is exhausted or other unfavorable conditions occur, the plasmodium
changes, taking on the appearance of a fungus.

 These structures, called fruiting bodies, contain the reproductive spores, which, when released,
germinate and begin the life cycle anew.

 The protoplasm of the young fruiting body contains many nuclei that increase in number by
mitosis.
 Progressively, the protoplasm is cleaved into a large number of spores, each containing a
single diploid nucleus.
 Meiosis occurs giving rise to four haploid nuclei, three of which disintegrate leaving a single
haploid nucleus in each spore.

 Spores are very resistant to environmental extremes and are long-lived.

 Spores germinate to produce amoebas and flagellated cells.

 Amoebas and flagellated cells are interconvertible, multiply by mitosis and eventually act as
gametes (plasmogamy).

 Amoebas may secrete a thin wall during unfavorable periods and become dormant for a year or
more. This resting stage is called a microcyst.

 During dry periods the plasmodium becomes encysted and forms a sclerotium.

Division Chytridiomycota (chytrids).

 Predominantly an aquatic group: fresh water, a few in salt water, and some terrestrial.
 One class is unicellular; other three classes form mycelium.
 Only fungal group that produce motile reproductive cells: zoospores (asexual) and gametes.
 Mostly coenocytic with a few septa at maturity that separates the reproductive organs.
 Hyphae of some chytrids have pseudosepta: incomplete partitions made of substances different
from cell wall material.
 Contain chitin in their cell wall, some contain cellulose as well.
 Store food as glycogen.
 Meiosis and mitosis is intranuclear, similar to other fungi. The nuclear envelope remains intact
until the telophase when it breaks up and reforms around the daughter nuclei.
  Gametes could be similar (isogametes) or different, one at least motile.
 Some species are parasitic on algae, protozoa and other aquatic fungi, and spores, pollen and
terrestrial plants. Other species are saprophytic.
 About 790 species.
 NOTE: Some taxonomists consider the chytrids to be protists due to the production of motile
cells. These scientists consider members of the Fungi those species that do not produce motile
spores.

Division Zygomycota (zygomycetes)

 Multicellular land fungi.

 Divided into three to seven classes according to different schemes of classification.
 Coenocytic mycelium with septa separating the reproductive structures; rhizoids are formed by
the hyphae at intervals of the growing stolons (hyphae).
 Asexual haploid spores formed in sporangia supported by sporangiophores.
 Sexual spores formed the fusion of hypha endings called gametangia. The fused tips develop into
a zygosporangium, which in turn will produce zygospores.
 Mating types or strains required in some for conjugation to occur: heterothallic species.
 Chitin in cell wall; no cellulose present.
 Saprophytic mostly, some parasitic on plants and insects; some form endomycorrhizae.
 About 1060 species described.

Phylum Ascomycota (sac fungi, ascomycetes)

 Multicellular or unicellular fungi.

 Terrestrial fungi
 Four classes recognized by many mycologists.
 Hyphae are narrower than the Zygomycota with a perforated septum and multinucleated.
 Chitin present in cell wall; cellulose absent.
 Asexual spores are called conidia, are multinucleate and produced at a hypha tip, the
conidiophore.
 This division is characterized by a sexual state composed of ascospores within sac-like asci
(sing. ascus). This is called a synapomorphy.
 The asci are contained within (or on) a variety of ascocarps (ascomata) including perithecia,
cleistothecia, and apothecia. See fig. 24.21.
 The asci develop on an inner surface of the ascoma, a layer called the hymenium.
 The formation of multinucleate gametangia, antheridia and ascogonia, precedes sexual
reproduction.
 Male nuclei pass into the ascogonium via the trichogyne, which is an outgrowth of the
ascogonium.
 The male and female nuclei pair up within the ascogonium but do not fuse; ascogenous hyphae
begin to grow and septa are formed separating pairs of nuclei.
 Ascomycetes have a dikaryon in the ascogenous hyphae.
 Asci form at the tip of the ascogenous hyphae. The tip bends forming a crozier. See Fig.24.18.
 Homothallic and heterothallic.
 Important parasites and saprophytes. Yeasts are unicellular ascomycetes. Many edible species.
 About 32,300 species described.
Division Basidiomycota (club fungi)

 Multicellular fungi.
 Terrestrial fungi.
 Two or three classes are recognized.
 Well-developed mycelium.
 This division is characterized by a synapomorphy, the basidium.
 Hyphae are narrower than the Zygomycota and typically septate (dolipore septum).
 Two phases in the life cycle: monokaryotic (primary mycelium) and a dikaryotic phases
(secondary mycelium).
 Dikaryotic mycelium is formed by the fusion of monokaryotic hyphae from different mating
types.
 They have a prolonged binucleate dikaryotic stage, which is maintained by use of clamp
connection. See fig. 24.24.
 The mycelium that forms the basidioma (pl. basidiomata) is called tertiary mycelium, which
becomes differentiated into specialized hyphae that plays different functions within the
basidioma.
 Sexual spores are called basidiospores through meiosis within the basidium.
 Meiotic basidiospores are formed externally on the differentiated hyphal tips (basidia), which are
usually the site of nuclear fusion and meiosis.
 Important saprophytes and parasites; major decomposers of wood and plant litter. Many edible
species. Mushrooms, puffballs, shelf fungi, toadstools, rusts, smuts, stinkhorns, etc.
 About 22,300 species.

DEUTEROMYCETES or CONIDIAL FUNGI (anamorphs)

This is an artificial grouping of about 25,000 species of fungi for which the sexual stage is not known.

Only their conidial or asexual reproducing state is known.

They are also known as the Fungi Imperfecti, the "imperfectly known fungi".

What fungi are classified as conidial fungi?

1. The sexual stage may have been lost in the course of evolution.
2. The sexual stage still has to be discovered.
3. The sexual stage is not used as the basis of classification because of the close resemblance to
conidial fungi and their features, e.g. Aspergillus and Penicillium.

On the basis of their overall characteristics most conidial fungi are clearly ascomycetes; a small
percentage are basidiomycetes (presence of clamp connection) or zygomycetes.

Many exhibit heterokaryosis, the presence of different nuclei in the same cytoplasm due to mutation or
plasmogamy with different hyphae.

Heterokaryosis may exist in different portions of the mycelium. These portions have different properties.

Haploid nuclei may fuse and form a new diploid nucleus.

This diploid nucleus loses chromosomes until the haploid condition is reestablished. A phenomenon
called haploidization.

 Haploidization does not involve meiosis.

 It was discovered in Aspergillus.

The occurrence of plasmogamy, karyogamy and haploidization in sequence is called parasexuality.

Parasexuality increases the genetic variability and evolutionary potential of the fungus.

Deuteromycetes are of great economic importance.

 Penicillium species are important in the making of a variety of cheeses, and antibiotics.
 Aspergillus oryzae and A. soyae produce soy sauce.
 Some species of Aspergillus cause aflatoxins, a liver carcinogen.
 Dermatophytes are conidial fungi that cause skin diseases: ringworm, athlete's foot, etc.

SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIPS.

Symbiosis is the close and long term association of two different species.

There are different forms of symbiosis, e.g. parasitic, mutualistic.

Lichens

The association of a photobiont, an alga or cyanobacteria, and a mycobiont, a fungus forms lichens.

Lichens are polyphyletic; DNA studies evidence indicates that they have evolved independently at least
five times. About 13,250 species of lichen forming fungi are known.

About 40 genera of photobionts are found in combination with the mycobionts.

Some lichens incorporate two photobionts, green algae and a cyanobacterium.

About 90% of the lichens have one of four genera of photobionts: Trebouxia, Pseudotrebouxia and
Trentepohlia, and the cyanobacterium Nostoc.

The photobiont may be scattered evenly throughout the thallus or form a distinct layer within the thallus.

The majority of the mycobionts (98 %) are Ascomycota. The rest are Basidiomycota.

Lichen species are usually specialized to a particular substrate.

Growth habit:
 Crustose firmly and flatly attached to the substrate.
 Foliose forms are leaf-like.
 Fruticose lichens are upright and branched, bushy-like.
Lichens reproduce by fragmentation, soridia (clusters of hyphae and alga cells) and isidia (small
outgrowths). The mycobiont may form ascospores, basidiospores or conidia.

 The ascomycete may form ascomata.

Independent dispersal and re-association occurs commonly in nature.

SURVIVAL OF LICHENS

Lichens are well adapted to survive under adverse conditions specially desiccation and cold; they remain
dormant when dry.

 Lichen dry out very quickly.

 Their water content in nature is between 2 and 10%.
 When a lichen dries out, photosynthesis stops.

Lichens are found from deserts to the Arctic and Antarctic regions.

 One species is a marine species.

 Seven species live within 4O of the South Pole.

Lichens grow very slowly adding to their thallus 0.1 to 10 mm a year.

The oldest known fossil lichen is from the Early Devonian, 400 million years ago.

A MUTUALISTIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE MYCOBIONT AND PHOTOBIONT

The nature of this relationship is under scrutiny: is this a mutualistic or a parasitic relationship?

 The mycobiont produces haustoria or appressoria that penetrate the cells of the photobiont and
absorb carbohydrates and nitrogen compound from the photobiont.
 The mycobiont controls the reproductive rate of the photobiont.
 The mycobiont provides the photobiont with moisture, minerals, attachment and protection
against elements.

On the whole, the lichen association is mutualistic; at the cellular level, the mycobiont parasitizes the
photobiont. Neither partner can flourish in the niches in which they are commonly found without the
partner.