Define The Biology Of Fungi Flashcards

Total Flash Cards » 29
Text Size: S | M | L

Which of the following characterstics or structures exist for the vast majority of fungi? Which are present only in a few species? :
extracellular digestion sporangiophores
motile spores stolon
mycelia septate hyphae
chitin hyphae
cells caps and stalks
haustoria rhizoid hyphae

Common to the majority of fungi
extracellular digestion
chitin
mycelia
hyphae
cells (all living creatures have them)
rhizoid hyphae
Present in some
stolons (specialized hyphae)
caps and stalks (only mushrooms have them)
sporangiophores (hyphae with enclosed spores)
haustoria (specialized hyphae)
motile spores (Chytridiomycota and some slime molds)
septate hyphae (many have non-septate hyphae)
Some biologists say a mushroom is much like an iceberg, because only about 10% of an iceberg is visible from the surface of the ocean. What do they mean? Like an iceberg, the visible part of a mushroom is only a small fraction of the total mushroom, because the mycelium is the largest component of a mushroom.
What is the difference between septate and non-septate hyphae? Septate hyphae have cell walls to seperate the cells while non-septate hyphae do not.
What is the function of the rhyzoid hyphae? The rhyzoid hyphae supports the fungus and digest the food.
What is the function of the stolon? The stolon asexually reproduces.
What is the function of the sporophore? A sporophore releases spores for reproduction.
What is the function of the haustorium? A haustorium invades the cells of a living host to absorb food directly from the cytoplasm.

Which of he following hyphae are aerial?
rhizoid hyphae stolon
sporophore Haustorium
Stolons and sporophores are aerial.
What is the difference between sporangiophore and a conidiophore? A sporangiophore produces its spores in an encloser; a conidiosphore does not.
What is the main characteristic of phyla Basidiomycota? Forms sexual spores on club-like basidia.
What is the main characteristic of phyla Ascomycota? Forms sexual spores in sac-like asci.
What is the main characteristic of phyla Zygomycota? Forms sexual spores where hyphae fuse.
What is the main characteristic of phyla Chytridiomycota? Forms spores with flagella.
What is the main characteristic of phyla Deuteromycota? Fungi with no known method of sexual reproduction.
What is the main characteristic of phyla Myxomycota? Fungi that look like protozoa for much of their lives.
Describe the life cycle of a mushroom.
A mushroom begins life as a small mycelium that grows from spores which have come from another mushroom. As the mycelium grows, it might encounter a compatible mycelium. As the two mycelia begin to intertwine, their hyphae will sexually reproduce. Eventually the newly-produced hyphae will form a complex web and enclose themselves in a membrane. When the hyphae are formed in the membrane, it has reached its button stage. At that point, the hyphae begin filling with water quickly, and eventually its fruiting body is formed, when the stipe and cap break through the membrane. The fruiting body of the mushroom releases its spores, which will grow into new mycelia if they land in suitable habitats.
What is the main difference between shelf fungi, puffballs, and mushrooms?
Shelf fungi form their spores in the pores of the fruiting body.
Puffballs produce spores enclosed in a membrane.
A mushroom has a fruiting body that has cap with gills to form spores.
What is an alternate host? List a type of fungus that uses one.
a. A host that is needed for some parasitic fungi to complete its life cycle. It is not the host that it spend most of its life on.
b. Rusts
What type of fungus is best known for fermentation? To which phylum does it belong?
a. Yeast
b. Ascomycota
How is budding different from the asexual reproduction in bacteria? It is different because the daughter cell remains attached to the parent cell as it grows. The offspring doesn't grow alone as it would in bacterial asexual reproduction.
Name at least two pathogenic fungi and the maladies that they cause.
1) Claviceps purpurea/ergot of rye -> death
2) Cryphonectria parasitica -> chestnut blight
3) Ophiostioma ulimi -> Dutch elm disease
4) Rusts -> crop damage
5) Smuts -> crop damage
or you could have said
6) Synchytrium endobioticum -> potato wart
What puts a fungus into phylum Deuteromycota? If a fungus's sexual mode of spore formation cannot be determined.
What can happen if an antibiotic is used too much? If an antibiotic is used too much, resistant strains of the pathogen, that the antibiotic is supposed to destroy can be formed.
Name the genus of the fungus that produces penecillin. Genus Penicillium
When a slime mold is a plasmodium, it resembles organisms from what kingdom? Kingdom Protista
My own question: When do slime molds resemble protists? When do they resemble fungi?
a. When they feed.
b. When they reproduce.
What is the easiest way to get rid of slime mold? To get its habitat dry.
What are the two major forms of mutalism in which fungi participate? Describe each relationship and the job each participate in that relationship?
1) Lichen and 2) Mycorrhizae
A Lichen is a mutalistic relationship between a fungus and an alga. The alga produces food for both creatures via photosynthesis, and the fungus supports and protects the alga.
Mycorrhizae are mutualistic relationships between a fungus' mycelium and a plant's root system. The mycelium takes nutrients from the root while it collects minerals from the soil and gives them to the root.
What is soredium? This is the dust-like substance produced by most lichens that contains spores from both the alga and the fungus.