Phylum Basidiomycota Characteristics
- Morphology. Due to its large size, Agaricomycotina is a diverse group that comprises jelly fungi, mushrooms, and yeasts.
- Reproduction and Life Cycle of Agaricomycotina. Also known as the Shaggy Mane Mushroom, Coprinus comatus is one of the...
- Life Cycle and Morphology of Rust. The majority of Pucciniomycotina (over 7,000 species) are...
What is the phylum Basidiomycota?
Basidiomycota, large and diverse phylum of fungi (kingdom Fungi) that includes jelly and shelf fungi; mushrooms, puffballs, and stinkhorns; certain yeasts; and the rusts and smuts.
What are the characteristics of basidiomycetes?
Basidiomycetes generally have a very long dikaryotic stage. Upon encountering a sexually compatible fungus, the two fungi fuse and the new nucleus makes copies of itself and sends them to all parts of the mycelium.
How many types of mycelia are found in Basidiomycota?
Three types of mycelia viz., primary, secondary and tertiary are found in the Basidiomycota. The primary mycelium is monokaryotic (i.e., made of haploid uninucleate cells) and is formed by germination of the basidiospores.
How many mating types are there in Basidiomycota?
Most species in Basidiomycota have at least one “mating type” gene that determines sexual compatibility. The simplest system in basidiomycetes is roughly equivalent to male/female, but many species have multiple mating type genes, which makes things much more complicated.
How do you identify Basidiomycota?
The fungi in the Phylum Basidiomycota are easily recognizable under a light microscope by their club-shaped fruiting bodies called basidia (singular, basidium), which are the swollen terminal cell of a hypha.
What are three examples of Basidiomycota?
The three common examples of Basidiomycetes are Agaricus, Puccinia and Ustilago.
What are basidiomycetes commonly known as?
Basidiomycetes are commonly known as club fungi.
What is the structure of Basidiomycota?
Basidiomycota are typically filamentous fungi composed of hyphae. Most species reproduce sexually with a club-shaped spore-bearing organ (basidium) that usually produces four sexual spores (basidiospores).
Overview
The phylum Basidiomycota is a large group that consists of over 30,000 species. These include puffballs, jelly fungi, toadstools, and stinkhorns, etc. which can be found in terrestrial and some aquatic habitats.
Agaricomycotina
Agaricomycotina is a large phylum that makes up about 70% of all phylum Basidiomycota. It's also estimated to make up about a third of all fungi .
Morphology
Due to its large size, Agaricomycotina is a diverse group that comprises jelly fungi, mushrooms, and yeasts. For this reason, members of the group exhibit significant variation in structure and general morphology.
Mushrooms (Coprinus comatus)
Also known as the Shaggy Mane Mushroom, Coprinus comatus is one of the most studied members of the subphylum Agaricomycotina.
Pucciniomycotina
The subphylum Pucciniomycotina consists of a variety of fungi including yeasts, jelly fungi, rusts, and smut. However, rusts are some of the most common members of the group and will be discussed in detail.
Life Cycle and Morphology of Rust
The majority of Pucciniomycotina (over 7,000 species) are in the rust lineage. They have a complex life cycle that involves several spore stages depending on the species. To understand the life cycle and morphology of rust fungi, this section will focus on the fungus Puccinia graminis.
Stage 1: Uredinial stage (Uredospores)
In this stage, the aeciospore lands on the plant (wheat) leaf or stem. Upon landing, it produces a germ tube that grows along the epidermis to reach the stomata. Upon reaching the stomata, the tip of the germ tube swells to form the appressorium.
What is the phylum of basidiomycota?
Basidiomycota, large and diverse phylum of fungi (kingdom Fungi) that includes jelly and shelf fungi; mushrooms, puffballs, and stinkhorns; certain yeasts; and the rusts and smuts. Basidiomycota are typically filamentous fungi composed of hyphae. Most species reproduce sexually with a club-shaped spore-bearing organ ( basidium) ...
Where are basidiomycete yeasts found?
Hungerford. Specific basidiomycete yeasts are known to be lichen symbionts, together with unrelated fungi (typically ascomycetes) and green algae or cyanobacteria. These yeasts are found in the cortex of many macrolichens.
What phylum is Crucibulum vulgare in?
Crucibulum vulgare, a species of bird's-nest fungi, forms egg-shaped basidiocarps and is a member of the phylum Basidiomycota.
What is a bird's nest fungus?
The common name bird’s nest fungus includes species of the genera Crucibulum, Cyathus, and Nidularia of the family Nidulariaceae (order Agaricales ), which contains about 60 species. The hollow fruiting body resembles a nest containing eggs ( peridioles). The peridioles carry the spores when they disperse at maturity.
What is basidia borne on?
Basidia are borne on fruiting bodies (basidiocarps), which are large and conspicuous in all but the yeasts, rusts, and smuts. Stump puffballs ( Lycoperdon pyriforme ), a ubiquitous fungus that grows on dead wood. When rain hits the fruiting structures, spores are released in a cloud.
What is the phylum of fungi?
Basidiomycota, large and diverse phylum of fungi (kingdom Fungi) that includes jelly and shelf fungi; mushrooms, puffballs, ...
Which phase of the life cycle is the binucleate mycelium?
In the Basidiomycota, binucleate cells divide successively and give rise to a binucleate mycelium, which is the main assimilative phase of the life cycle. It is the binucleate mycelium that eventually forms the basidia—the stalked fruiting bodies in which nuclear fusion and meiosis take place prior to…. truffle.
What is the life cycle of basidiomycota?
The Basidiomycota are amazingly diverse organisms. They come in so many different forms that it is difficult to find any physical characteristics that define the group. 1. Instead, mycologists are forced to say, “Most basidiomycetes…” or, “The Basidiomycota tend to…” and similar things.
Why do not all basidiomycetes produce basidia?
Not all basidiomycetes produce basidia because some reproduce only asexually. Basidia produce multiple sexual spores (“basidiospores”) externally on short spikes called sterigmata (sing. sterigma). This unique combination of characteristics is found only in basidiomycetes. 1.
How many spores does a basidium have?
The basidium in the foreground has four newly-forming spores on top of its sterigmata. Basidia come in a variety of shapes. A vast majority of species, including most mushroom-forming species, form holobasidia. These basidia are club-shaped, do not contain any septa, and usually produce four spores. 3.
What is the club fungus?
3. Thanks to holobasidia, the Basidiomycota are sometimes called the “club fungi” (note that “club fungi” can also refer to a mushroom morphological group, see FFF#038 ). Cruciate septate basidia are similar in shape to unicellular basidia but produce two septa that form an x-shape when viewed from above.
What is the name of the last type of basidium?
3. One last type of basidium exists: tuning fork basidia, also called bifurcated basidia. These basidia begin as long cylinders but branch once to form a tuning fork or Y shape.
What is the name of the fungus that symbioses with insects?
Many form mycorrhizas with plants, others parasitize plants, a lot decompose organic material, and some live in a variety of symbioses with insects. The Basidiomycota are commonly referred to as “basidiomycetes,” “basidios,” or “club fungi.”. 1.
What is the name of the fungus that people are most familiar with?
This division contains the fungi that people are most familiar with. The classic “Mario mushroom” (based on Amanita muscaria ), the grocery store button mushroom and other varieties ...
What are the characteristics of the phylum Basidiomycota?
Characteristics of Phylum Basidiomycota: The mushrooms and toadstools with which mycology started, the rusts and smuts , which have been devastating crops since recorded history, the ‘shelf’ and ‘bracket’ fungi that lie attached to the trees sapping their vitality, and all belong to Basidiomycota. These are the highest evolved fungi.
How big are basidiomycota?
The basidiomata vary in size, from minute or microscopic to 3 feet or more in diameter. The shapes are fantastic. Mushrooms, shelf fungi, coral fungi, puff balls, stink horns and bird’s nest fungi are important basidiomycota named on the shape of their basidomata. Any one will love them at first sight!
What type of mycelium is formed by basidiospores?
On germination, the basidiospores give rise to monokaryotic primary mycelium . 2. The Thallus: Three types of mycelia viz., primary, secondary and tertiary are found in the Basidiomycota. The primary mycelium is monokaryotic (i.e., made of haploid uninucleate cells) and is formed by germination of the basidiospores.
What happens when ascospores reach a suitable substratum?
When the ascospores reach a suitable substratum, they germinate and give rise to a monokaryotic mycelium. Biology, Fungi, Phylum Basidiomycota of Fungi.
Where do basidiospores form in dikaryophase?
The dikaryophase ends with the formation of basidia, which usually develop on the terminal cells of the dikaryotic hyphae. The karyogamy and meiosis occur in the basidia and four haploid nuclei are formed. The basidiospores, formed from these haploid nuclei represent the haplophase.
What is the basidium?
The Basidium: Like the ascus of Ascomycota, the basidium is a diagnostic feature of Basidiomycota. A typical basidium is a club-shaped structure bearing apically four basidiospores on pointed projections called sterigmata. The basidium may be septate, phragmobasidium or unseptate, holobasidium.
Which organs are not formed in Basidiomycota?
Distinguishable sex organs are not formed in Basidiomycota except in Puccinia, where spermatia and receptive hyphae are distinctly the male and female structures. The plasmogamy, karyogamy and meiosis, which comprise sexual reproduction, occur at different intervals and at different places.
What phylum are basidiomycetes?
The fungi comprising the phylum Basidiomycota commonly are known as basidiomycetes. It is a large phylum that includes forms commonly known as mushrooms, boletes, puffballs, earthstars, stinkhorns, birds-nest fungi, jelly fungi, bracket or shelf fungi, and rust and smut fungi.
What are basidiomycetes responsible for?
Armillaria species. Many other basidiomycetes are directly responsible for the destruction of a wide variety of wood products including lumber, railroad ties, landscape timbers and utility poles.
How is mycelia formed?
Usually this type of mycelia is formed due to the fusion of two uninucleate cells of the compatible homokaryotic mycelia. So a binucleate cell is produced that develops later into secondary mycelia. Then, further divisions produce mycelia in which every cell is dikaryotic.
What is the name of the structure that produces spores?
Basidiomycetes are characterized primarily by producing their sexual spores, termed basidiospores (typically 4 in number), on the outside of a specialized, microscopic, spore producing structure called the basidium. Basidiospores are haploid but can be either uninucleate or multinucleate upon maturity.
Why are basidiomycetes important?
Importance of Basidiomycetes. The basidiomycetes is an important group of fungi including harmful as well as many useful species. It has edible mushrooms in one side and poisonous mushrooms, smut fungi etc on other side.
What are the principal agents that decay cellulose and lignin?
Basidiomycetes that attack dead woody plants are the principal agents that decay cellulose and lignin are the essential components of forest ecosystems. Some of these same organisms are used as biological pulping and bleaching agents in pulp and paper production and in the removal of toxic substances from the environment.
What is the name of the mushroom that has a strong smell?
Pleurotus spp. (oyster mushroom) Basidiomycetes are well known for their production of a wide variety of interesting secondary products noted for their scents, tastes, colors and toxic properties. Even in the past, many mycologists have used odors of basidiocarps of some species as an aid to identification.
