Scribd
Upload
47 views5 pages

Basidiomycota

Basidiomycota is a diverse group of fungi with over 30,000 species, including both beneficial and pathogenic varieties, playing crucial ecological roles in decomposition and forming symbiotic relationships with plants. While many species are edible and commercially important, some can cause serious plant diseases and health risks in humans. The document also details the morphology, development, and nuclear events associated with basidia, the spore-producing structures of these fungi.

Uploaded by

aamna ameer
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
47 views5 pages

Basidiomycota

Basidiomycota is a diverse group of fungi with over 30,000 species, including both beneficial and pathogenic varieties, playing crucial ecological roles in decomposition and forming symbiotic relationships with plants. While many species are edible and commercially important, some can cause serious plant diseases and health risks in humans. The document also details the morphology, development, and nuclear events associated with basidia, the spore-producing structures of these fungi.

Uploaded by

aamna ameer
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 5

Basidiomycota

1. Introduction
They are a large group of fungi with over 30,000 species, including toadstools, earth stars,
stinkhorns, false truffles, jelly fungi, and rust and smut fungi. Rust and smut fungi are also
known as the pathogens of higher plants and can cause many serious plant diseases. The
Basidiomycetes are terrestrial and known for their wind-dispersed spores, but some grow in
freshwater or marines.

1.1 Ecological Roles


Since Basidiomycetes are saprotrophic, they play an important role in preserving the equilibrium
of the ecosystem. Being saprotrophs, they break down organic material like wood and leaf litter,
thus helping in soil formation and nitrogen cycling. Such as Armillaria and Heterobasidion
annousum, which are well known for their roles in wood decomposition, especially in forests
with conifer plants.

In addition to that, decomposition basidiomycetes are also known for forming symbiotic
relationships with trees. For example, ectotrophic mycorrhiza is a mutually beneficial
relationship, in this relationship the fungus helps the trees to absorb nutrients, in exchange for the
carbohydrates that are produced by the trees. This relationship is found in species such as
Amanita and Boletus. However, depending on the host this association can be both pathogenic
and symbiotic, such as Rhizoctonia, which is both pathogenic and symbiotic depending on the
host. It acts as pathogenic to some plants and forms mycorrhizal relationships with the orchids.

1.2 Pathogenic Species


Most basidiomycetes are beneficial, but some of them can cause diseases, particularly in plants,
such as rust and smut fungi, which are very important with respect to agriculture. They can cause
catastrophic crop diseases that result in huge output losses. For example, honey fungus
Armillaria can cause major damage to a range of species of trees in forests.

There are also certain basidiomycetes that may pose health risks to humans. Such as
cryptococcosis, which is a potentially fatal brain infection, and it is caused by the Filobasidiella (
Crytococcus) neoformans, particularly in immunocompromised people.

1.3 Edibility and Toxicity


Many species of basidiomycetes are edible and are valued for their nutritional and commercial
importance. The known edible species are Pleurotus (oyster mushrooms), Lentinula edodes
(shiitake mushrooms), and Agaricus bisporus, or white button mushrooms which are also
commonly grown for food. These species are harvested and grown all over the world, which
contributes to the world market of mushrooms.

However, not all basidiomycetes are edible and good for humans, some of them such as Amanita
phalliodes also known as death cap, is toxic and may even cause death. Farmers must be able to
between toxic and edible species because toxic mushrooms contain certain harmful substances
that contain harmful poisons that can damage kidneys as well as the liver. Moreover, some
species such as fly agaric Amanita muscaria and the magic mushroom psilocybe spp. are known
for causing hallucinations.

2. Basidium Morphology
The distinctive feature of sexually reproducing basidiomycetes is basidium, which is where
spores (basidiospores) are produced. It is a spore-bearing cell that produces spores on these
tapering extensions called sterigmata which are exterior to the cell. It is common for
basidiomycetes to contain basidiospores, but that may differ in some species.

Spores per basidium,

 Itersonilia perplexans has been characterized by a single spore basidium.


 Agaricus bisporus, which is a cultivated fungus, produces basidia with two spores.
 Phallus impudicus, which is known as the stinkhorn fungus, has nine spores per
basidium.

2.1. Types of Basidia


Different groups of basidiomycetes have different shapes and structures, which have important
taxonomic significance. There are two basic types of basidia.

1. Holobasidia: These are septate-free, and cylindrical organisms without septa. They are
found in the majority of mushrooms and their associated organisms. Such as the cell body of
Dacrymycetales order splits into two branches each of which produces a basidiospore, although
the basidia remains intact.

2. Heterobasidia: also known as pragmobasidia, they are the ones where basidia is separated
into longitudinal and transverse.

 In fungi such as Jewish ear fungus Auricularia auricula-judae, a transverse septum


separates them.
 The basidia of Tremella species are split longitudinally.
2.2 Basidia in Rust and Smut Fungi
Generally, dikaryotic, teliospores, or chlamydospores are the specialized resting cells from which
basidia in rust (Uredinales) and smut (Ustilaginales) are formed. A promycelium, which is a
tubular structure that divides transverse septa is produced by these cells. Inside the promycelium,
every resultant cell produces either sporidium (which is found in smuts) or basidiospores (which
is found in rust fungus).

3. Development of Basidia
A very clear developmental process is followed in the production of the basidium, which is the
distinctive spore-producing structure of the basidiomycetes. The gill-bearing fungus
Oudemansiella radicata, which grows in decaying tree stumps and has noticeably big basidia,
shows the developmental process clearly.

3.1 The Developmental Stages of Basidia

3.1.1. Initial Formation


On the underside of the mushroom cap (basidiocarp), the basidium is first formed as the terminal
cell of a hypha that makes up a portion of the gill tissue. Initially, the basidia are filled with thick
cytoplasm as they cram into the hymenium.

3.1.2. Vacuole Formation:


At the base of basidium, tiny vacuoles are first formed and then they combine to form a single,
big vacuole. The cytoplasm is then forced toward the apex by the expanding vacuole, here a
transparent can distinguished at the tip.

3.1.3. Sterigmata Development:


In the clear cap area, spore-producing extensions known as sterigmata start to form. Here, the
two-layered upper portion of the basidial wall is crucial: the outer mucilaginous layer ruptures,
allowing the sterigmata to escape and be surrounded by the inner wall.

3.1.4. Development of Spores:


Basidiospores are produced by sterigmata as they spread. As the basidium itself has a thin layer
of cytoplasm that surrounds the large vacuoles, these spores will the cytoplasm. The pressure
within the vacuole helps in keeping the basidium turgid until the spores are discharged.

3.1.5. Formation of Apophyses:


The terminal of sterigmata extends to generate apophyses, which are tiny knobs from which the
asymmetrically growing basidiospores proliferate. The hilum is a tiny spot on the sterigmata
where the spores are still attached, and where spores finally separate.

4. Cytological Aspects
In some fungi such as Boletus rubinellus the wall structure becomes thinner when the sterigmata
are formed, which is also a sign of cytoplasmic structural differentiation. Much like hyphal tip
formation, ultrastructural investigations have shown the presence of microtubules and vesicles
close to the location of formation.

The vesicles have been observed fusing with the plasma membrane at the tips of the sterigmata
in many fungi, such as Coprinus cinereus. These features indicate a sophisticated process for the
spore formation including vesicle expansion and transport.
5. Nuclear Events

5.1. Initial Binucleate Stage:


A dikaryotic mycelium, or a mycelium with two genetically different haploid nuclei, is the
source of basidium. After meiosis and karyogamy, these nuclei unite to form four haploid nuclei.

5.2 Meiosis:
The upper portion of the basidia undergoes meiosis, and nuclear division happens transversely or
parallel to the axis of the basidium. The division’s direction, which is referred to as chiastic or
stichic, has a lot of taxonomic significance. In toadstools and mushrooms, chiastobasidia, also
known as cross-dividing basidia, are observed. Certain bracket fungi are characterized by
basidia that divide in rows also known as stichobasidia.

5.3 Post-Meiotic Mitosis:


Some basidiomycetes go through post-meiotic mitosis following the meiosis, this can happen in
different ways:

 Four of the eight nuclei in some fungi like Cantharellus cibarius migrate into the spores
while the remaining nuclei remain in the basidium and degenerate.
 In some fungi like Collybia butyracea, only one nucleus enters each spore while the rest
nuclei degenerate inside the basidium.

References
John Webster, R. W. (n.d.). Introduction to Fungi. Cambridge.

You might also like