BIOL10003 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Mycelium, Cellulase, Saprotrophic Nutrition
21 Jul 2018
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Document Summary
Sources of food or used for food fermentation. Fungi at the intersection of microbiology and macrobiology: >100,000 described species, potentially the most diverse group. Two forms = grow as filaments or as yeast. Mycelium is a network of hyphae: monofilaments (cytoplasm in a tube) with large surface area/volume ratio. Cell walls feature chitin microfibrils embedded in a matrix of polysaccharides, protein and lipids. Chitin stain certain ways and uses certain dye. Hyphae may be divide by cross walls called septa. There are pores between hyphae so information, nutrients and molecules can flow. Hyphae can fuse (anastomose), forming cells with mixed nuclei (heterokaryons) Fuse = 2 independent fungus strains growing, then bring together 2 different types of hyphae population. Heterotrophs = an organism that cannot fix carbon from inorganic sources but uses organic carbon for growth. Secrete enzymes and digest food externally (don"t digest and break down internally) Spore formation is one way of fungal surviving over long times.
