Transcript There’s a FUNGUS among us! - Utah State University

There’s a FUNGUS among us!
Mycena lux-coeli1
Historically
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“true fungi”
Oomycetes
Slime Molds
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Oomycota
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include the so-called
water molds and downy
mildews
filamentous protists
"Oomycota" means
"egg fungi," and refers
to the large round
oogonia, or structures
containing the female
gametes (as shown)
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Oomycetes
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feed on decaying
matter like fungi
parasites on both
plants and animals
root rot, blister rusts,
downy mildews,
lesions on fish, farm
animals, & humans
Now placed in the
Kingdom Chromista
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Oomycetes: Historical Importance
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Phytophthora infestans : late blight of
Potato – Irish potato famine
Plasmopara viticola : downy mildew of
grapes – nearly wiped out French wine
industry – discovery of the first
fungicide
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Slime Molds
(Photographs by Michel Poulain)
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life cycle that
superficially resembles
that of the true fungi
Now placed in the
kingdom Protista
Three main groups
Plasmodial
Cellular
Slime nets
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Plasmodial Slime Molds
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Basically enormous
single cells with
thousands of nuclei
They are formed
when individual
flagellated cells
swarm together and
fuse
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Cellular Slime Molds
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Spend most of their
lives as separate
single-celled
amoeboid protists
Individual cells
aggregate into a
great swarm after
release of a
chemical signal
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Labyrinthulomycota
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little known about this group
Possess a structure called a netplasmodium during the vegetative stage
have an organelle called a
bothrosome capable of secreting a
membrane outside their cells
Cause a disease of sea grasses
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What are True FUNGI?
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Eukaryotic organisms
Heterotrophic, lacking chlorophyll
Obtain nutrients via enzyme secretion
and absorption of resulting byproducts
Cells walls containing chitin and beta
glucans
Glycogen as primary food storage
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More About Fungi
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Can reproduce both sexually and
asexually
Heterotrophic – as such can consume
almost any carbonaceous substrate
including jet fuel and wall paint
Biggest role is in the recycling of dead
plant material
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Relationships
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More closely related to animals than to plants
Emerged onto dry land about the same time as
plants. Myccorhizal relationships likely date
from this time as well.
Four divisions
One form-division
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Basidiomycete Life Cycle
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Divisions
Chytridiomycota
Zygomycota
Ascomycota
Basidiomycota
Dueteromycota
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Chytridiomycota
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Aquatic
Flagellated gametes
Basal group in kingdom
Oldest known fungal fossil found in
northern Russia – from the Devonian
Period (650-543 mya)
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Zygomycota
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Sexual reproduction via production of a
zygospore
Asexual reproduction common
Occur on a wide variety of substrates
May be saprophytic or parasitic
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Ascomycota
The “Sac Fungi”
 Account for ca. 75% of all described
fungi
 Spores produced in ASCI (ascus) –
typically 8 ascospores produced
 Sexual reproduction female gametangia
grow toward male gametangia
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Ascomycota cont.
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True truffles, morels, cup fungi, most lichens
Yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisiae – used in
baking and brewing)
Chestnut Blight (Cryphonectria parasitica),
Dutch Elm Disease (ophiostoma ulmi),
Pneumonia (Pneumocystis carinii)
Aspergillus flavus – produces aflatoxin (the
most powerful known carcinogen and toxin)
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Basidiomycota
Gametangia not formed, nuclear material
exchanged in various ways
Many have clamp connections
Spores produced on Basidia (basidium)
Mushrooms (toadstools), puffballs, jelly fungi,
bird nest fungi, bracket, smuts, rusts, and
stinkhorns
Oldest known fossil from New Jersey Amber
dating from the Cretaceous age (90-95 mya)
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Basidiomycota cont.
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Play significant role in the carbon cycle
Form ectomycorrhizal partnerships
(principally with forest trees) and
symbiotic relationships
Divided into three major groups
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Clamp connection
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Fossil
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Deuteromycota
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Form-group, artificial grouping
Sexual reproduction stage unknown
(maybe lost)
Members transferred to proper group
when sexual stage is observed
Penicillium, Aspergillus
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Lichens
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Symbiotic relationship between a fungal
partner and photosynthetic autotroph
(typically an alga or cyanobacterium)
Fungal partners tend to be Ascomycetes
Sensitive to air pollution
Several forms – crustose (flat and crust-like),
foliose (leaf-like, loosely attached to the
substrate), fruticose (strap shaped to
cylindrical, upright or pendulous);
intermediate forms common
Typically divided into 1 or more layers
internally
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Lichens cont.
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Identification based on form, layers, color,
chemical tests, and substrate
Play a significant role in nitrogen fixation,
water absorption and retention, and soil
building
Are a major part of the cryptobiotic soils of
desert regions
Slow growth rates – age often measured in
decades or centuries
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Crustose Lichens
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Foliose Lichens
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Fruticose Lichens
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Fungal Ecology
Saprobe
decomposer of all terrestrial organic
matter (and some aquatic matter)
Pathogen
purveyor of plant and animal disease
Mycorrhizae
symbiosis of plant and fungus
(fungi)
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Mycorrhizae
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The term
mycorrhiza, which
literally means
fungus-root
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first applied to
fungus-tree
associations
described in 1885
95% of all plant
species
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Mycorrhizae Cont.
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Symbiotic associations that form
between the roots of most plant species
and fungi
characterized by bi-directional
movement of nutrients where carbon
flows to the fungus and inorganic
nutrients move to the plant
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HYPHAE
Twine together to form large
masses called mycelium
(Some even glow in the dark, as in this Mycena)
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septa
hyphae
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Fruiting Bodies
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Ascocarp
Basidiocarp
Elegant designs for
spore dispersal
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Wind dispersal
Water dispersal
Animal dispersal
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Ascocarp
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Basidiocarp
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Wind Dispersed
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Water Dispersed
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Animal Dispersal
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Fungal Structure
Pileus
Stipe
Hymenium surface
Ascomycete -vs- Basidiomycete
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The Pileus
The mycological way of saying a cap
Yes, you will need to know the proper name
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Pileus Features
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Stipe
The mycological name for the stem
Not always present !!!
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volva
annulus
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Hymenium Surface
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Where the sexually produced spores are
produced
Different arrangements for maximizing
surface area
Lamellae, pores, teeth, folds, smooth,
pitted, packaged
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Ascomycota -vsBasidiomycota
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Photo and Text Credits
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Tom Volk: Boletus conferigera, Bolete pores, Dacrymyces sp., Cortinarius cortina, Hericium coralloides,
Geupeniopsis alpina, Tuber gibbosum
Michael Wood: Xylaria hypoxylon, Sarcoschypha coccinea, Ramariopsis kunzei, Lenzites betulina, Morchella
sp., Amanita constricta, Nidula candida, Calbovista subsculpta, Sparassis crispa, Geopyxis vulcanalis,
Amanita caesarea
Taylor Lockwood: Hydum repandum, Aluria aurantia, clamp connection
Bruce McCune: Hypogymnia enteromorpha, Hydrothyria venosa
Eric B. Peterson: Letharia vulpina, Esslingeriana idahoensis
Anki Camacho: Omphalina umbellifera, Nodobryoria oregana
Roger Roetreter: Texosporium sanci-iacobi
Kathy Merrifield Usnea filipendula
Mold-Help: Aspergillus niger
Malloch Lab, Univ. of Toronto: Penicillium sp.
U. of Wisc. Med. School: Penicillium sp.
Intermountain Herbarium, U.S.U.
Michael B. Piep: text and content
All photos are copy write protected by the photographer.
All rights reserved.
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