MYCOLOGY- STRUCTURE OF FUNGI

              STRUCTURE OF FUNGAL

Fungal Hyphae Cells

1- Hyphal wall

2- Septum

3- Mitochondrion

4- Vacuole

5- Ergosterol crystal

6- Ribosome

7- Nucleus

8- Endoplasmic reticulum

9- Lipid body

10- Plasma membrane

11- Spitzenkörper

12- Golgi apparatus

                Shared features:

1.With other eukaryotes: Like other eukaryotes, fungal cells contain membrane-bound nuclei with chromosomes that contain DNA with noncoding regions called introns and coding regions called exons. In addition, fungi possess membrane-bound cytoplasmic organelles such as mitochondria, sterol-containing membranes, and ribosomes of the 80S type. They have a characteristic range of soluble carbohydrates and storage compounds, including sugar alcohols (e.g., mannitol), disaccharides, (e.g., trehalose), and polysaccharides (e.g., glycogen, which is also found in animals]).

2.With animals: Fungi lack chloroplasts and are heterotrophic organisms and so require preformed organic compounds as energy sources.

3.With plants: Fungi possess a cell wall and vacuoles. They reproduce by both sexual and asexual means, and like basal plant groups (such as ferns and mosses) produce spores. Similar to mosses and algae, fungi typically have haploid nuclei.

4.With euglenoids and bacteria: Higher fungi, euglenoids, and some bacteria produce the amino acid Llysine in specific biosynthesis steps, called the -aminoadipate pathway]

5.The cells of most fungi grow as tubular, elongated, and thread-like (filamentous) structures and are called hyphae, which may contain multiple nuclei and extend at their tips. Each tip contains a set of aggregated vesiclescellular structures consisting of proteins, lipids, and other organic moleculescalled Spitzenkörper. Both fungi and oomycetes grow as filamentous hyphal cells.In contrast, similar-looking organisms, such as filamentous green algae, grow by repeated cell division within a chain of cells.

6.In common with some plant and animal species, more than 60 fungal species display the phenomenon of bioluminescence]

                 Unique features:

1.Some species grow as single-celled yeasts that reproduce by budding or binary fission. Dimorphic fungi can switch between a yeast phase and a hyphal phase in response to environmental conditions.

2.The fungal cell wall is composed of glucans and chitin; while the former compounds are also found in plants and the latter in the exoskeleton of arthropods, fungi are the only organisms that combine these two structural molecules in their cell wall. Unlike cell walls in plants and the oomycetes, those in fungi do not contain cellulose.