Leaving Certificate Biology

Unit 3

Kingdom Fungi

H. Jones, St. Columba’s College

 Introduction
• Mycology is the study of fungi.
• The general characteristics of fungi are:
• Their bodies are long thread like tubes of cells called
hyphae.
• They are unicellular or multi-cellular.
• They have cell walls made from chitin.
• They have enclosed nuclei and mitochondrion.
• They reproduce by spores
• They are heterotrophic only and do not contain
chlorophyll.
• Fungi include mushrooms, moulds, mildews and
yeasts.
 Fungal Nutrition
• Fungi can be either saprophytic (dead
material), parasitic (living material causing
harm) or mutualistic (symbiotic) (living
material not causing harm, e.g. lichens and
mycorrhiza)
• While some mushrooms are edible, some are
highly poisonous and should not be consumed
if not known.
• Edible mushrooms include button
mushrooms, morels, field mushrooms and
truffles.
Symbiotic Fungi
Parasitic Fungi
Saprophytic Fungi
Harmful and Beneficial Fungi
Beneficial Harmful
Yeast for brewing Human diseases (athletes foot,

Mushrooms are used a food dandruff, ringworm)

Fizzy drinks Plant disease (blight)

Bread making Food spoilage (Moulds and

Cheese Mildews)

Antibiotics Material destruction (wood)

Rhizopus stolonifer (Bread Mould)

Rhizopus is known as the

common bread mould

and is seen if bread is

left out for a long

period.
 Rhizopus 1
• Nutrition
• It feeds on starchy foods, fruit, vegetable
peelings etc and is a saprophyte.
• The fungus secretes enzymes onto the
starchy substrate and the starch is broken
down outside the fungus and the nutrients
are then absorbed.
 Rhizopus 2
• Structure
• The fungus appears as dark blue circular patches.
• It is often called a pin mould because it often looks
like pins sticking out of the substrate surface.
• Rhizopus composed of thread like structures called
hyphae.
• They have no crossed walls (aseptate), and are
haploid.
• A large group of hyphae is called a mycelium.
 Rhizopus 3
• There are two types of hyphae, stolons and
rhizoids
• Stolons are used to spread the fungus
throughout the substrate (food)
• Rhizoids increase surface area for absorption
of the digested nutrients.
• The pin-shaped structures are used during
reproduction.
 Rhizopus Life Cycle
• Rhizopus reproduces both sexually and
asexually.
Asexual Reproduction
• After a few days some hyphae grow upwards
out of the substrate.
• These are called sporangiophores.
• These structure have swollen tips contain a
sporangium, which contains many spores.
 Rhizopus Life Cycle - 2
• The base of the sporangium is called a
columella.
• In dry conditions, the spores are dispersed
and are carried on the wind.
• If they land on a suitable substrate, they will
each produce a hypha and continue to grow.
• The offspring will be genetically identical to
the parent.
 Rhizopus Life Cycle - 3
Sexual Reproduction
• Rhizopus exists as two strains (minus and plus).
• During sexual reproduction, hyphae of each of the
strains come close together.
• The hyphae grow towards each other and make
contact at the tip.
• The tips swell with cytoplasm and nuclei (haploid)
on both sides.
• The swelling is known as a progametangium.
 Rhizopus Life Cycle - 4
• A wall forms around the progametangium,
producing an enclosed gametangium on each hypha.
• The two gametangia fuse and the many haploid
nuclei in each fuse forming diploid zygotes.
• The cell with the diploid nuclei thickens and
become a dormant zygospore.
• The zygospore remains dormant for anything up to
a number of years, and until conditions are
favourable
 Rhizopus Life Cycle - 5
• Meiosis occurs inside the zygospore, producing
numerous haploid cells yet again.

• When the zygospore opens, new hyphae grow out.

• These produce sporangiophores and reproduce

asexually.

• The offspring are not genetically identical from the

parent.
 Exercise
• Using you text book and other resources
write notes on Yeast (Saccharomyces)
under the following headings:
1. Structure (including diagram)
2. Reproduction
Mandatory Investigation
Yeast Structure
Reproduction in Yeast