A GLIMPSE FROM THE PAST

1857
LOUIS PASTEUR

Began studying yeast under a microscope

Discover that they were living organisms
 General Features
FUNGI
/FUN/-/GHAI/
 The Characteristics of Fungi
 Cell wall present, composed of cellulose and/or chitin.
 Food storage - generally in the form of lipids and glycogen.
 Eukaryotes - true nucleus and other organelles present.
 All fungi require water and oxygen (no obligate anaerobes).
 Fungi grow in almost every habitat imaginable, as long as there
is some type of organic matter present and the environment is
not too extreme.
 Diverse group, number of described species is somewhere
between 69,000 to 100,000 (estimated 1.5 million species total).
HOMEOSTASIS and FUNGI
Autophagy
Mitophagy
Apoptosis
HOMEOSTASIS and FUNGI
 Autophagy
natural, regulated
mechanism of the cell that
disassembles unnecessary
or dysfunctional
components. It allows the
orderly degradation and
recycling of cellular
components.
HOMEOSTASIS and FUNGI
 Mitophagy
is the selective
degradation of
mitochondria by
autophagy. It often
occurs to defective
mitochondria following
damage or stress
HOMEOSTASIS of FUNGI
Apoptosis
a form of programmed cell death that
occurs in multicellular organisms.
 HEALTHY CELL

APOPTOSIS
NECROSIS
NUTRITION of FUNGI
 HETEROTROPHIC
Fungi are heterotrophs that acquire
nutrients by absorption

Secrete hydrolytic enzymes and acids

to decompose complex molecules into
simpler ones that can be absorbed
Heterotrophic by Absorption
 Fungiget carbon from organic sources
 Hyphal tips release enzymes
 Enzymatic breakdown of substrate
 Products diffuse back into hyphae

Nucleus hangs back

and “directs”

Product diffuses back

into hypha and is used
 NUTRITION of FUNGI
 HETEROTROPHIC
1. Saprobes
absorb nutrients from dead organic
material
NUTRITION of FUNGI
HETEROTROPHIC

Collybia reinakeana,
Endemic in Philippines (Nueva Ecija)
NUTRITION of FUNGI
HETEROTROPHIC
2. Parasitic fungi - absorb nutrients from
cells of living hosts; some are pathogenic
The Cordyceps fungi are unflinching creepy
 parasites. The most infamous type
– Ophiocordyceps unilateralis .
NUTRITION of FUNGI
HETEROTROPHIC
NUTRITION of FUNGI
HETEROTROPHIC
3. Mutualistic fungi - absorb nutrients
from a host, but reciprocate to benefit the
host
NUTRITION of FUNGI
HETEROTROPHIC
 HYPHAE
• Long, branched
thread-like
filaments
• Adaption to the
fungal mode of
nutrition
FUNGI consist of a network
of FILAMENTS
Basic structural unit of
fungal vegetative body
(mycelium) is the
hypha
Except for yeast,
hyphae are organised
around and within food
source:
 Composed of tubular
walls containing chitin
FUNGI consist of a network
of FILAMENTS
 Hyphae of septate fungi are divided into cells by
crosswalls called septa
 Hyphae of aseptate fungi lack cross walls (coenocytic)
 Parasitic fungi have modified hyphae called haustoria,
which penetrate the host tissue but remain outside cell
membrane
2 FORMS OF HYPHAE
TRANSPORT in FUNGI
Pathogenic transport

The secretion of biomolecules by 

fungal cells occurs via the conventional
export results from transport within
extracellular vesicles (EV).
REPRODUCTION of FUNGI
Fungi are Spore-ific!!!
 Spores - asexual (product of mitosis) or sexual
(product of meiosis) in origin.
 Purpose of Spores
 Allows the fungus to move to new food source.
 Resistant stage - allows fungus to survive periods
of adversity.
 Means of introducing new genetic combinations
into a population
REPRODUCTION of FUNGI
 RESPIRATION OF FUNGI
 Most of their growing underground, away from the
sunlight and open atmosphere where plants grow.
However, fungi also breathe like other types of
plants, despite their existence underground.

 Some fungi are able to respire without oxygen.

 AEROBIC RESPIRATION
- it requires oxygen

 ANAEROBIC RESPIRATION
- it does not require oxygen
- breaking down the sugars in grains
- converting them into carbon dioxide