Amjad KhanAfridi
Lecturer,Departmentof Health
& BiologicalSciences
FUNGI

 Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with
the study of fungi.
 The word 'myco' is derived from the Greek word
mýkēs meaning “mushroom, fungus”.
 Heinrich Anton de Bary is the father of Mycology.
 Fungi are eukaryotic organisms that include such as
yeasts, moulds and mushrooms. These organisms are
classified under kingdom fungi.
 Fungi are diverse and widespread.
FUNGI

 Ten thousand species of fungi have been described,
but it is estimated that there are actually up to 1.5
million species of fungi.
 Fungi play an important role in ecosystems,
decomposing dead organisms, fallen leaves, feces,
and other organic materials.
 Most plants depend on mutualistic fungi to help their
roots absorb minerals and water from the soil.
FUNGI

 Saprophytic fungi absorb nutrients from nonliving organisms.
 Parasitic fungi absorb nutrients from the cells of living hosts.
 Some parasitic fungi, including some that infect humans and plants,
are pathogenic.
 Fungi cause 80% of plant diseases.
 Examples: Rhizopus, Penicillium and Aspergillus.
 Mutualistic fungi also absorb nutrients from a host organism,
Morphology of Fungi

1.Heterotrophs- digest food with secreted enzymes
2. Have cell walls and made of chitin
3. Most are multicellular, with slender filamentous
units called hyphae
4. Hyphae may be divided into cells by cross walls
called septa
Morphology of Fungi

Fungi can reproduce either sexually or
asexually.
Reproductive structures of fungi that
produce gametes are called
gametangia, and those that produce
asexual spores are sporangia.
Fungal spores are nonmotile and are
typically very tiny and dry.
Reproduction of Fungi

Spores which explode from a sporangium may
travel up to two meters from their origin, a huge
distance considering their tiny size.
Other spores are slimy and are dispersed by
adhering to the bodies of arthropods, such as
insects.

• There are basically three types of fungi: mushrooms, moulds,
and yeasts.
• Yeasts are unicellular fungi that have a single nucleus and
reproduce either asexually by budding or sexually through
spore formation
• Yeasts are larger than bacteria and are commonly
spherical to egg shaped
Types of Fungi

• Moulds consist of long, branched, small threads known as hyphae.
• These hyphae typically occur as a networked mass known as
mycelium.
• Moulds are aerobic and prefer environmental, room temperature
Mould / Mold

 Fungi are eukaryotic, non-vascular, non-motile and heterotrophic
organisms.
 They may be unicellular or filamentous.
 Cell wall consists of chitin, chitosan, glucan, mannan, and others.
 Cell membrane has an ergosterol (which replaces cholesterol)
 Nucleus that contains several diploid chromosomes
 Nuclear membrane that resembles a eukaryotic nucleus
 The nuclei of the fungi are very small.
 Cytoplasm is similar to plants, but differs in organelles (i.e.
 no chloroplasts, different protein that makes microtubules)
 Non vascular, non motile organisms
Specific Fungal Characteristics

 Reproduction is by means of spores produced sexually
(meiotic)
 or asexually (mitotic)
 Vegetative body may be unicellular (yeast) or composed of
 threads called hyphae
 Fungi lack chlorophyll and hence cannot perform
photosynthesis.
 Fungi store their food in the form of starch.
 Some fungi are parasitic and can infect the host.
Specific Fungal Characteristics

• The four major phyla of Fungi are based on the method
of producing sexual spores
 Zygomycota
 Ascomycota
 Basidiomycota
 Deuteromycetes
Specific Fungal Characteristics

1) Zygomycota:
 Sexual spores are thick walled resting spores called zygospores
 These are formed by the fusion of two different cells.
 The sexual spores are known as zygospores, while the asexual
spores are known as sporangiospores.
Example – Mucor.
Specific Fungal Characteristics

2. Ascomycota:
 Called sac fungi
 Spores borne internally in a sac called an ascus
 They can be coprophilous, decomposers, parasitic or
saprophytic.
 The sexual spores are called ascospores.
 Asexual reproduction occurs by conidiospores. Example –
Saccharomyces.
Specific Fungal Characteristics

3. Basidiomycota:
 Spores borne externally on a club-shaped structure called basidium
 Mushrooms are the most commonly found basidiomycetes and mostly live
as parasites. Sexual reproduction occurs by basidiospores. Asexual
reproduction occurs by conidia, budding or fragmentation. Example-
Agaricus.
Specific Fungal Characteristics

4. Deuteromycetes:
 Have no known sexual state in their life cycle
 They are otherwise called imperfect fungi as they do not
follow the regular reproduction cycle as the other fungi.
 They do not reproduce sexually. Asexual reproduction occurs
by conidia. Example – Trichoderma.
Specific Fungal Characteristics

Different modes of reproduction in fungi
Mainly there are three types of reproduction in
fungi such as
1.Vegetative Reproduction
2.Asexual Reproduction
3.Sexual Reproduction

The vegetative reproduction of fungi is accomplished in
four distinct modes such as;
1.Binary Fission
2.Budding
3.Fragmentation
4.Spore formation (asexual reproduction)
Vegetative Reproduction of Fungi

1. Budding
The parent cell produces one or more projections called buds,
which later develop necessary structures and separated to grow
into new individuals.
Budding is common in unicellular forms like yeast.

2. Binary Fission
In this process, the parent cell splits into two equal halves,
each of which develop into a new individual.
Fission is also common in yeast.
Saccharomyces pobbe and Psygosaccharomyces reproduced by
binary fission method.

3. Fragmentation of hyphae (mold)
In this process, the mycelium (hyphae) of fungi
are breaks into two or more similar fragments
either accidentally or due to some external force.
Each fragment grows into a new mycelium
(daughter cell).

4. Sexual spores
Spores are produced by mitosis and
cell division, formed on the ends of
aerial hyphae (not endospores:
reproductive) -germinate to form
exact clones of the Parent.
Asexual spores are different in
color, size and shape most of them
are small or big.

Spores may be yellow, pink, unicellular or
multicellular therefore fungi taxonomists
depend on asexual spore for classification of
fungi.
The fungal spores always result from mitosis
and hence are described as mitospores.
Following are the types of spores produced
in different groups of fungi:

1-Zoospores
They are flagellated, motile
spores produced inside
structures called zoosporangia.
These spores do not have a cell
wall.
Such spores are produced in
lower fungi such as water
molds.

2. Sporangiospores
These are the single-celled, produced inside structures called sporangia
in fungi such as Rhizopus (bread mold ).
There are two types of sporangiospores as motile and nonmotile.
The motile spores contain flagella such as Zoospores.
The nonmotile spores lack flagella such as
aplanospores. Example: Rhizopus.
These spores are dispersed by wind.

3-Conidia
These are non-motile asexual unit produced singly or in
chains at the tip of the hypha branches that are called
conidiophores.
Such conidia are produced in fungi like Aspergillus and
Penicillium.

Thank You
3
rd
November,
2022