Fungal Biology Lecture 1 (F09) - 2

Lecture: What are Fungi?
BIOL 4848/6948 - Fall 2009
Biology of Fungi
Fungi in the Tree of Life

Living
What are Fungi?
organisms on
earth first arose about
3.5 billion years ago
Prokaryotic
Anaerobic
Oldest
fossils of fungi
are about 460 million
years old
Fossilized perithecium of what is believed to be a

fungus of the genus Savoryella. Note the
ascospores (arrow) within the ascocarp. Source:
www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fungi/fungifr.html
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Copyright 2009 Chester R. Cooper, Jr.
Fungi in the Tree of Life (cont.)

Coincides
with the rapid

expansion of multicellular organisms
Major multicellular
eukaryotes are divided
into Kingdoms
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Each
of these three kingdoms differ in

their basic cellular structure and mode
of nutrition (defined by Whittaker, 1969)
Plants
- photosynthetic, cellulosic cell walls

- digestive systems, wall-less cells
Fungi - absorptive nutrition, chitinous walls
Animals
Animals
Plants
Artistic vision of mushrooms among plants.

Source: interactive.usc.edu/members/jchen/
Fungi
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The
estimates for the expansion of

multicellular organisms are based upon
phylogenetic analyses of Carl Woese
Examined
ribosomal RNA (rRNA)
Present
in prokaryotes and eukaryotes

Relatively stable, but changes occur over time;
thereby acting as a chronometer
Distinguished
three separate groups

(Domains) of living organisms
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Domains
- rRNA sequence differences

correlate with differences in cellular
structure and physiology
Bacteria
- true bacteria
- ancient prokaryotes
Eucarya - eukaryotes
Archaea
Figure 1.1, Deacon (2006) Fungal Biology, 4th ed.
Taxonomic
grouping of Kingdom lies

beneath that of Domain
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Though
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the fossil evidence suggests

fungi were present on earth about 450
million years ago, aquatic fungi (Phylum
Chytridiomycota) most likely were
present about a million years before this
time
About 354 - 417 million years ago, fungi
evolved with primitive land plants
These
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Defining the Fungal Kingdom

Mycology
is the study of fungi
Myco-
= fungi
-ology = the study of
Mycology
originally arose as a branch of

botany because fungi were once
believed to be achlorophyllic plants
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plant-associated fungi probably

helped their photosynthetic partners
gather nutrients from the harsh soils of
the time
These fungi were the early ancestors of
the present day phylum Glomeromycota
Despite plant-fungus co-evolution, fungi
are more closely related to animals
Why Study the Fungi?

There
are over 100,000 species of

known fungi and probably 15 times that
many that have yet to be discovered
Fungi are an extremely important part of
the ecosystem
Recycling
of minerals and carbon

plant and animal diseases
Source of food, medicines, and chemicals
Important models in scientific research
Cause
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A Brief History of Fungi
A Brief History of Fungi

Euripides
(A.D. 450-456) recorded the

first mushroom poisoning deaths
Greeks
(about 300 B.C.)

believed truffles were
produced by thunder
Oldest illustration of
fungi was found among
the ruins of Pompeii
(A.D. 79) that depicted
edible mushrooms
A truffle. Source: www.truffle-and-truffe.com
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Euripides. Source: uk.wikipedia.org

A Brief History of Fungi (cont.)
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During
a period of the Middle Ages

(A.D. 1470 to 1670), books on herbals
were published that included
illustrations and descriptions of fungi
similar to those of Greeks
same methods to divide mushrooms
and truffles into poisonous and nonpoisonous varieties
Amanita muscaria, one of the most

poisonous mushrooms in the world.
Source: www.myco-vaud.ch
Remarkably
Used
Jerome Bock.
Source: www.nndb.com
The German herbalist Jerome

Bock wrote in A.D. 1552:
Fungi and truffles are neither herbs, nor
roots, nor flowers, nor seeds, but merely
the superfluous moisture of earth, of
trees, or rotten wood, and of other
rotting things. This is plain from the fact
that all fungi and truffles, especially
those that are used for eating, grow
commonly in thundery and wet weather.
[From Ainsworth (1976) Introduction to the History of Mycology, as cited in
Moore-Landecker (1996) Fundamentals of the Fungi, 4th ed.]
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Other
cultures also believed the fungi

originated from thunder and lightning
god Soma was a child of
thunderstorms who offered hallucinogenic
fluids from Amanita muscaria, one of the
worlds most poisonous mushrooms
Similar legends existed in Guatemala and
Mexico
Modern
Hindu
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Zacharias Janssen. Source:

www.astrophotoclub.com/history/telescope.htm
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times in the
study of fungi began
with the invention of
the microscope
(about 1590-1600) by
Hans and Zacharias
Janssen of Holland
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Robert
Hooke used
the microscope to
make the first
drawings of a
microscopic fungus
(Mucor or Rhizopus)
in 1665 and
published them in his
book Micrographia
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In
1699, fungi are found

to be a component of
lichens
Anton van Leeuwenhoek
observes yeasts using a
microscope (1673)
Hereafter,
the study of fungi

exploded with many
different contributions over
the next 300 years,
including the one gene-one
enzyme hypothesis (Beadle
and Tatum, 1941) and the
2001 Nobel Prize for cell
division studies in yeast
Defining the Fungal Kingdom

are simple,
eukaryotic microbes
Many
are microscopic
typically
employ standard
microbiological
techniques
Studies
Source: www.laskerfoundation.org
Mycologists
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Fungi
Defining the Fungal Kingdom (cont.)

(fungal
biologists) have
traditionally studied
not only the true
fungi (e.g., mildew),
but also fungus-like
organisms (e.g.,
slime molds)
British Soldier Lichen. Source:

www.buenavistatownship.org
Hookes drawing in Micrographia.

Source: www.unb.br/ib/cel/microbiologia
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Macroscopic (above; from

Kendrick) and microscopic (below;
from Cooper) fungi

The
kingdom
Mycota is comprised
of the true fungi
True fungi have the
following features:
Eukaryotic
Transmission electron micrograph of a fungal cell

showing typical eukaryotic structures. Source:
www.stchas.edu/faculty/zfitzgerald/fungi.jpg
Physarum polycephalum, a slime mold, growing

out of Petri dishes (upper image) and a closer
view of the plasmodium phase (lower image)
Source: waynesword.palomar.edu/slime1.htm
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Fungal
features (cont.):
Typically
grow as
filaments, termed hyphae
(sing., hypha) via apical
growth [the latter differs
from the growth of other
filamentous organisms]
Scanning electron micrograph of a fungal hyphae growing on the surface of a leaf.
Source: www.abdn.ac.uk/ims/h-em/images/sem4/pages/fungal-hyphae-on-leaf.html
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Apical growth of a fungal hypha of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum.

Source: Fungal Cell Biology Group (www.fungalcell.org)
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Fungal
features (cont.):
Fungal
hyphae
repeatedly branch to
form a network of
filaments termed a
mycelium (sing.,
mycelia)
Hyphal strand of a Streptomyces species. Note the newly dividing cell (arrow). Source:
zoology.okstate.edu/zoo_lrc/biol1114/sample_tests/preview_material/exam1/s03/preview-exam1_s03.htm
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Fungal
Drawing of a mycelium. Source: www8.nos.noaa.gov/

coris_glossary/index.aspx?letter=m
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features (cont.):
Fungal features (cont.):
Some
fungi grow as a single-celled entity,

termed a yeast, that grows either by a
budding process or via binary fission
Some fungi can switch growth

forms between a hyphal phase and
a yeast phase, a property known
as dimorphism
Budding yeast (left) and fission yeast (left). Sources: www.biochem.wisc.edu/yeastclub

and www.steve.gb.com/science/model_organisms.html
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Typically induced by environmental

conditions
A number of such fungi are diseasecausing agents of humans and
animals
Dimorphism of Candida albicans. Source:

www.explorepub.com/articles/darkfield_charts/fungus9.html
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Fungal
Fungal
features (cont.):
Heterotrophic
(chemo-organotrophs) require preformed organic compounds

Absorb nutrients after degradation by
exogenously released enzymes
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Fungal
features (cont.):
Unique
cell wall components
Chitin
Glucans
Rare
instances of cellulose, but definitely fungal

cell walls are not as rich in this polymer as are
plants
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features (cont.):
Typically
have haploid nuclei
Hyphae
often have a number of haploid nuclei

present in each cell
Some yeasts have a single diploid nucleus
Reproduce
both sexually and asexually,

typically through the production of spores
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Fungal
features (cont.):
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differences [Deacon, Table 1.1]

between fungi and animals and plants
include:
Histone
types
of microtubules to inhibitors
Manner of lysine biosynthesis
Membrane sterols
Organellar structure/morphology
Sensitivity
Major Activities of Fungi

Plant
Other
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Asexual mitotically-derived spores (conidia; orange arrow in

above figure) of the fungus Scedosporium apiospermum and the
meiotically-derived spores (ascospores within a specialized
structure termed a cleistothecium; white arrow in figure to the
right) of the sexual form of the same organism given the
designation Pseudallescheria boydii
parasites
Irish
potato blight of
the 1840s
Dutch elm disease
Disappearance of
frogs in Costa Rica
Phytophthora infestans growing into the leaf of a potato plant (above) and the
resulting rotting tuber from infection by this fungus (right).
Sources: www.seedquest.com/News/releases/2005/may/12297.htm and
www.science.siu.edu/plant-biology/PLB117/JPEG%20files/potato.blight.jpg
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Major Activities of Fungi

Plant
symbionts
Major Activities of Fungi (cont.)

Human
Lichens
(can also
form with
cyanobacteria)
Mycorrhiza
pathogens
About
200 known species of fungi are

known to infect humans
Diverse diseases including:
Dandruff
ring
worm
Pneumocystis
Mycorhizzal fungus associated with roots of a pine. Source:
www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Mushroom/English/Species/mycorrhizal.html
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Biological
infection of HIV-infected persons
Candidiasis
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Decomposition
control agents
Mycoparasites
(other fungi)
Entomopathogens (insects)
Nematophagous (nematodes)
Cellulose
Rumen
Dry
(plant material)
fungi in cows
rot
Dry rot due to the fungus Serpula lacrymans.

Source: www.grzyby.pl/gatunki/Serpula_lacrymans.htm
Nematode trapping fungus. Source: Kendrick

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Toxin
production (mycotoxins)
Aflatoxins
(peanuts and grains)

Mushroom poisoning
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Fungi in Biotechnology
Foods
and flavorings
Edible
mushrooms
million tons produced worth $14 billion (1994)

Diverse types now widely available in
supermarkets
Alcoholic
beverages
cheeses, soy sauce
Quorn mycoprotein
Breads,
Moldy corn due to the aflatoxin producer Aspergillus flavus.
Source: www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/icm/2001/10-22-2001/earrot.html
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Fungi in Biotechnology (cont.)

Fungal
Two
metabolites
Fungal
categories
- intermediates or end products of

common metabolic pathways essential for
normal cellular function
Secondary - diverse range of compounds
formed by specific pathways of a given
organism and not essential for growth (but may
provide some selection advantage)

Fungal
metabolites (cont.)
Examples
of secondary metabolites
antibiotics, e.g., penicillins and

cephalosporins
Non--lactam antibiotics, e.g., griseofulvin,
gliotoxin, ciclosporins
Pullulan - film-wrap for food in Japan
Chitosan - sewage clarification, plant defense
initiator
-lactam
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metabolites (cont.)
Examples
Primary
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of primary metabolites
Citric
acid (estimated 200,000 tons produced in

the year 2000) [soft drinks]
Gluconic acid (estimated annual production of
100,000 tons) [food additive]
Itaconic acid (estimated annual production of
80,000 tons) [paint and adhesive manufacture]
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Enzymes
and enzymic conversions
Extracellular
enzymes
valuable roles
Commercially
Food
industry
Bioconversions
Heterologous
gene products expression of foreign proteins by fungi

having medical/industrial applications
BIOL 4848/6948 (v. F09)

Fungal Biology Lecture 1 (F09) - 2

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Lecture: What are Fungi?

BIOL 4848/6948 - Fall 2009

Fungi in the Tree of Life

What are Fungi?

Fossilized perithecium of what is believed to be a

BIOL 4848/6948 (v. F09)

Copyright 2009 Chester R. Cooper, Jr.

Fungi in the Tree of Life (cont.)

with the rapid

BIOL 4848/6948 (v. F09)

Copyright 2009 Chester R. Cooper, Jr.

Fungi in the Tree of Life (cont.)

of these three kingdoms differ in

- photosynthetic, cellulosic cell walls

Artistic vision of mushrooms among plants.

Copyright 2009 Chester R. Cooper, Jr.

Fungi in the Tree of Life (cont.)

BIOL 4848/6948 (v. F09)

Copyright 2009 Chester R. Cooper, Jr.

Fungi in the Tree of Life (cont.)

estimates for the expansion of

ribosomal RNA (rRNA)

in prokaryotes and eukaryotes

three separate groups

BIOL 4848/6948 (v. F09)

Copyright 2009 Chester R. Cooper, Jr.

BIOL 4848/6948 (v. F09)

Copyright 2009 Chester R. Cooper, Jr.

Lecture: What are Fungi?

BIOL 4848/6948 - Fall 2009

Fungi in the Tree of Life (cont.)

- rRNA sequence differences

Figure 1.1, Deacon (2006) Fungal Biology, 4th ed.

grouping of Kingdom lies

BIOL 4848/6948 (v. F09)

Copyright 2009 Chester R. Cooper, Jr.

Fungi in the Tree of Life (cont.)

BIOL 4848/6948 (v. F09)

Fungi in the Tree of Life (cont.)

the fossil evidence suggests

BIOL 4848/6948 (v. F09)

BIOL 4848/6948 (v. F09)

Copyright 2009 Chester R. Cooper, Jr.

Defining the Fungal Kingdom

is the study of fungi

originally arose as a branch of

BIOL 4848/6948 (v. F09)

Copyright 2009 Chester R. Cooper, Jr.

Copyright 2009 Chester R. Cooper, Jr.

plant-associated fungi probably

Why Study the Fungi?

are over 100,000 species of

of minerals and carbon

BIOL 4848/6948 (v. F09)

Copyright 2009 Chester R. Cooper, Jr.

Lecture: What are Fungi?

BIOL 4848/6948 - Fall 2009

A Brief History of Fungi

A Brief History of Fungi

(A.D. 450-456) recorded the

(about 300 B.C.)

A truffle. Source: www.truffle-and-truffe.com

BIOL 4848/6948 (v. F09)