BIOL 1263 Living Organisms II

Tutorial Questions- Mycology Section

Complete the following questions and submit on Monday 19th November 2018 by
1:00pm in the Zoology Office in a slot labelled ‘BIOL 1263 Mycology Tutorial.’
Ensure that you answer the questions in your own words. Answers can be written
or typed since no Turn-It-In submission is required. However, a plagiarism
declaration form must be signed and attached to your tutorial.
Also note that you MUST attend tutorials this week (13th-15th November). During
these sessions your tutors will go through this worksheet.
1. Define the fungi, as a major group of living organisms.
2. What are the structural units of the fungi?
3. Describe the characteristic features of moulds and yeasts.
4. What are dimorphic fungi and the Y-M shift?
5. What are the two types of hyphae in relation to the presence or absence of cross walls?
6. Describe the distinguishing features of all the classes of true fungi.
7. Describe the different types of sexual and asexual spores produced by fungi.
8. Describe how the different types of asexual spores of fungi are formed.
9. What is cytoplasmic cleavage? What types of spores are formed by cytoplasmic cleavage?
10. What types of fruiting bodies are produced by ascomycetes?
11. Name three types of fruiting bodies produced by basidiomycetes.
12. Describe the importance of fungi to humans and the environment in relation to:
(a) Waste decomposition
(b) Food and beverage industry
(c) Medical and agro-industrial biotechnological applications
(d) Biological control of pests
(e) Human and plant health and disease
13. What is the importance of the following organisms to human health?
(a) Trichophyton rubrum
 (b) Yeast -Malassezia globosa
(c) Aspergillus fumigatus
14. Name one genus of poisonous and one genus of hallucinogenic fungi.
15. Give an example of a fungus used in biological control of insect pests.
16. Illustrate the general sexual cycle of fungi and explain what takes place at each step of the
cycle.
17. What stages of the true fungi are haploid (n), dikaryotic (n + n) and diploid (2n)?
18. What is the characteristic feature of the following types of fungi in terms of the presence of
sexual
organs?
(a) Monoecious
(b) Dioecious
(c) Sexually undifferentiated
19. Explain the following as they relate to compatibility in sexual reproduction:
(a) Homothallic
(b) Heterothallic
(c) Secondary homothallic
20. What is plasmogamy and how does it occur in fungi?
21. What is karyogamy and where does it occur in the life cycle of fungi?
22. Describe the modes of nutrition of fungi.
23. Differentiate between necrotrophs and biotrophs.
24. What is the role of the haustorium? Explain.
25. What is the role of fungi in mycorrhizas and lichens?
26. Differentiate between endo and ecto mycorrhizas.
27. What is the importance of woronin bodies and the spitzenkorper?
28. What is the dolipore septum?
29. Explain how fungal hyphae grow by hyphal tip extension.
30. Describe the different ways hyphae can be organized.