Page 125 - MNUmicrobiology practical 2025

General Microbiology & Immunology (PM 401) second level Semester 4 2024/2025

Learning outcomes

• Identify the various classes of fungi and major features among them

• Identify key representatives of each class

FUNGI

• Fungi are eukaryotic, heterotrophic, nonphotosynthetic organisms in a separate

kingdom of the same name.

• The majority consists of microscopic filaments called hyphae, and the network of

filaments is the mycelium.

• They live either as parasites or as saprophytes, absorbing organic material from

their environment.

• Their cell walls contain chitina polymer of the sugar glucosamine.

• Fruiting structures arise from the mycelium, having names such as sporangium,

ascus, and basidium, to name just a few.

• These fruiting structures can contain sexual spores or asexual spores. The hyphal

filaments are haploid (1N).

The classes of fungi are based mainly on the type of sexual spore that is produced, i.e.

zygospore, basidiospore, ascospore. The sexual spores are produced by meiosis, and

are often contained within a structure. Even yeasts produce sexual spores, although

they more commonly reproduce by asexual budding. On the other hand, asexual spores

are the more common spores (conidiospores, sporangiospores), their function being

dispersal so that the fungus can disseminate itself throughout the environment. There

are various reproductive modes for production of asexual spores---fragmentation,

budding, fission, and so on.

General Microbiology & Immunology (PM 401) Practical note Page 114