BIOL1131 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Chlorophyta, Mycelium, Amanita Muscaria
7 Jun 2018
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Course
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Fungi, plants and microbes
• Fungal reproduction
o Reproduce through spores
▪ Highly resistant
▪ Produced in the billions
▪ Often asexually produced
o Puccinia graminis (wheat stem rust) is an African wheat rust that
infected Aussie wheat crops. The spores can climb into a 10km jet
stream and travel over 13,000km
• Poisonous Fungi
o >90% of fungal deaths worldwide are cause by Amanita genus
mushrooms, in particular the Death Cap or Amanita phalloides
o Toxins
▪ Amatoxins – cyclopeptides composed of a ring of amino
acids
▪ Effect – inhibit the production of specific proteins within
liver and kidney cells, causing cells to cease functioning and
die
▪ Symptoms
• 5 – 20 hours after ingestion: nausea, vomiting,
abdominal pain, diarrhea
• Apparent improvement occurs
• Severe liver damage and kidney failure often result
in coma and death.
• Plant parasitic fungi
o Ergot – fungal fruitbody that replaces food grains
▪ Cause people to hallucinate and feel they are burning
Ergotism or St Anthonys Fire
▪ Related species produce LSD
o Dutch Elm
▪ Destroy elm trees
▪ Brought over to America from Europe on a beetle
o Downy grape mildew
▪ Uses a copper-based fungicide that turns the vines blue
• Basidiomycota
o Spores formed externally on special cells called basidia
• Ascomycota
o Spores produced internally in sacs (Asci)
▪ Each sac contains 8 ascospores
o Yeasts
o Characteristics
▪ Heterokaryon hypha
▪ Pored septa
▪ Asexual conidia
▪ Sexual ascospores
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
o Examples include fruit fungus, truffles, yeasts for beer/bread
• Cordyceps fungi
o Parasitic on subterranean insects – usually moth or beetle larvae
• Basidiomycota
o Mushrooms, toadstools, rusts, smuts
▪ 25,000 names species
o Characteristics
▪ Dikaryon hyphae
▪ Septa with complex ropes
▪ Asexual conidia
▪ Sexually-derived basidiospores
o Examples include stink nets, puffballs, fairy rings, bioluminescent
fungi…. etc.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
