Fungi II

Chiu.siuwai2021@gmail.com
 (Slime Molds)
(Water molds)

Fungi
are
Micro-
organisms

Fungal-like
Organisms:
Slime molds
& Water
molds

Nature Ecology & Evolution | Volume 7 | August 2023 | 1221–1231

 KINGDOM EUMYCOTA
PHYLUM ZYGOMYCOTA
(the Conjugating Fungi, Zygomycetes)
General characteristics of Zygomycota (Conjugating Fungi)

• 1% of all known species of fungi

• primary colonizers of most substrates
• most species have thallus of coenocytic hyphae
• haploid nuclei in vegetative stage
• chitin cell walls; 30% zygomycetes have chitosan in cell
wall
• no flagellated cell
• no centrioles, possess spindle pole bodies (SPBs):
intranuclear mitosis

the fusion of gametangia to form a unique structure

called the zygosporangium
 藻 有壁微生物 :藻、
真菌、植物
細胞核
葉綠體
真菌
細胞壁

細胞核 幾丁質

植物 殼聚醣
Plant

纖維素
細胞壁成份
Environmental
triggers for

Increasing
morphological
change

Fungi are pleomorphic

 Tempeh Asexual Reproduction mode
Rhizopus oligosporus is used to partially
digest the proteins of soybeans. The
result is a food product called tempeh
(produced in Indonesia, New Guinea
and other parts of SE Asia), which is
nutritionally enriched (increased
digestibility of proteins, higher levels
of riboflavin, niacin, and B12)
(Value-added fermented product)
• How to make Tempeh:
– Soybeans are soaked overnight and
dehulled.
– then cooked by boiling for 1/2 hour.
– After cooling, beans are inoculated
with Rhizopus oligosporus by adding
pieces of tempeh from a previous
batch, using a wrapper from former
batch, or by adding a spore suspension
in water from a culture
– The beans are wrapped (e.g., leaves,
plastic) and then incubated at room
temperature for about 24 hours
– Tempeh is sliced, dipped in salt water
and cooked.
 Zygomycetes (commonly called the conjugating fungi)
Sexual Reproduction: by conjugation to form Zygotes
Rhizopus Sexual reproduction between 2 sexes

Zygosporangium

suspensor Zygosporangium
with wall decoration
Gametangia
www.skidmore.edu/academics/biology/plant_bio/
Rhizoids
Asexual reproduction

Columella

Sporangium
 How Sex is Played?
Red confrontation line - the First Fungal Sex
between compatible Hormone: Trisporic acid
mates
Hyphae of Mucor species for
the + and - mating strains
produce trisporic acids which
are volatile (+ strain yields 4-
hydroxymethyltrisporates; -
strain yields trisporins) and
diffuse through the air.
Volatiles stimulate
progametagia production
and the synthesis of
carotene (a precursor for
trisporic acids) and trisporic
acids.

A positive feedback mechanism is

formed between the two compatible
strains leading to physical contact of
progametagia and sexual reproduction.
Sex is mediated by the Attraction
towards each other.
 Flooding and Tsunami enhance the zygomycosis / mucormycosis
incidences

Fungal spores are

everywhere. Fungi
live throughout the
environment.

Damp places lead to

mold infestation –
Mould
houses/flats/rooms
Zygomycosis
/mucormycosis affects
the gastrointestinal tract
or the skin and to brain.
It is one of the most
rapidly spreading
fungal infections in
human.
 Rhinocerebral Zygomycosis
• nasal and orbital infection
• encephalitis
• invasion of larger blood vessels and arteries
• patient may go into coma and die

– Mark Eric Tatum of Kentucky (after

surgery, with and without facial prosthetic)
survived from rhinocerebral zygomycosis
in 2000. Surgery was required to remove
infected tissue. He died five years later on
February 26, 2005.
Mucor-infected tissue

Treatment consists of prompt and

intensive antifungal drug therapy
and surgery to remove the
infected tissue.
(Alamy Stock photo)
(documentingreality.com: Mark Tatum The Man without a face;
Wikipedia (mucormycosis)
Immunosuppression Condition & Zygomycosis/ Mucormycosis
6歲血癌男童感染毛霉目真菌死亡
瑪麗醫院三名血癌病人，感染「毛黴真菌」，一名六歲男童死亡。死者
在去年十一月，接受急性血癌治療後，出現腹漲，證斷為小腸回盲部受
到毛黴真菌感染，留院廿三日後死亡 (Dec 08)。另一名染病的十一歲男
童，上月接受急性血癌治療後，亦出現右下腹痛病徵，證實感染壞疽性
盲腸炎。今早再有一名三十八歲男性證實受感染。兩人正接受未註冊的
新藥治療。 此外，三名正等候接受骨髓移植的病人，糞便中亦驗出有關
真菌。追查亦發現，一名去年十月因腸淋巴瘤導致腸穿孔死亡的五十七
歲男病人，亦感染毛黴菌。瑪麗醫院表示，為安全起見，暫停接收骨髓
病人新症。而毛黴真菌存在於食物及木制材料，抵抗力較低的人士較易
受感染。
Drug pills were contaminated with airborne mold during
manufacture
- Positive correlation of Covid-19 patients and zygomycosis (Azhar et al. 2022.
Journal of Infection and Public Health 15(4), 466-479.
- Diabetes patients have higher susceptibility to zygomycosis.

Incidence of zygomycosis is on the increase due to immuno-

suppressant drugs, cortisone (steroids), and other drugs
 Zygomycetes – Order Entomophthorales
Members of this order are predominately parasites of insects and other
arthropods
Entomophthora (> 40 species)

Entomophthora muscae kills house flies.

– Flies are sometimes found attached to
window panes, surrounded by a halo of
sporangia that are forcibly discharged by
turgor pressure from sporangiophores
which emerge between the abdominal
segments.
– The sporangium may be shot as far as 1.0
to 1.5 cm away from host.
– Fungus invades insect after contact with
sporangium. A germ tube forms and
penetrates the host. Masses of
– Insect becomes restless and exhibits sporangia
behavioral changes.
– After 5 - 8 days, host crawls to elevated
position.
– Death often occurs between 3 - 7 pm. www.mycolog.com/CHAP3b.htm

Fatal summiting phenotype www.uoguelph.ca/~gbarron/MISCELLANEOUS/ento2.htm

Host range of Beauveria bassiana (anamorph of
Cordyceps bassiana) that spans across Arthropoda
classes, from insects including; wasps (A), fire ants
(B), bark beetles (C), and mole crickets (D) to
arachnids such as mites and ticks (E). Cuticle
penetration (F) and conidiogenesis from host cadaver
(G).
Digvijay Singh et al /J. Pharm. Sci. & Res.
Vol. 9(6), 2017, 830-839
ASCOMYCOTA
Pezizomycotina
- the ascocarp-forming Ascomycetes
- ascogenous hypha

Saccharomycotina
-“true yeasts” (unicellular ascomycetes)
- no ascogenous hypha

Taphrinomycotina
polyphytic

www.bostonmycologicalclub.org/Checklist2001/Neolecta_irregularis.html www.biomed2.man.ac.uk/stewart/home.html
Ascomycetes: endospore formation 原有的子囊進行減數分裂
後的有絲分裂
Filamentous ascomycetes producing
ascocarps 子囊進行減數分裂II
•Mating between antheridium and
ascogonium via trichogyne. 新的子囊
子囊進行減數分裂I
•Differentiation of crozier to ascus
新的產囊絲
新
頂細胞 的
產囊絲 產
囊
絲
產囊絲

產囊體
No. of ascospores per ascus: 4 x 2n
Ascus is the meiocyte in where n is 0 or greater, and is the number of times of mitosis
ascomycetes: it carries out
karyogamy, meiosis and 火絲菌
sporulation

Yeasts (Moore & Chiu, 1999)

Multicellular Ascomycetous Sexual Organs: called ascocarps
Cleistothecium Perithecium Apothecium

Spherical Flask-shaped Cup-shaped

Compound ascocarps (many perithecia or cleistothecia or apothecia
assembled in an organized structure): called stroma

Truffles

Cordyceps
Tuber Morchella
 germinated conidium developing ascocarp
Morchella (asexual reproduction) (sexual reproduction)
asci
Compound
ascocarp
called
stroma

菌絲體

孢子釋放 Monascus

孢子成熟 產囊體
Perithecium

減數分裂
形成孢子
原子囊殼

核融合
形成子囊 Venturia perithecium
 Foliage disease, peach leaf curl
Taphrina
Taphrinomycotina

- consists of at least 4 basal lineages

- Taphrinales - Taphrina deformans
- Schizosaccharomycetales - Schizosaccharomyces
- Pneumocystidiales - Pneumocystis (yeast-like, human pathogen)
- Neolectales - Neolecta
Fisson yeast for brewing,
Model in cell and molecular biology
Schizosaccharomyces Tree pathogen Damage alveolar epithelium,
Neolecta causing death by asphyxiation

Pneumocystis

www.biomed2.man.ac.uk/stewart/home.html www.bostonmycologicalclub.org/Checklist2001/Neolecta_irregularis.html
www2.provlab.ab.ca/bugs/webbug/parasite/artifact/pcp.htm
 Saccharomycotina - “true yeasts”

Saccharomycetales
• budding yeasts

• Saccharomyces cerevisiae www.sb-roscoff.fr/CyCell/Page44.htm

•brewer’s yeast
•baker’s yeast

• Candida albicans
•common yeast infections

• no ascogenous hypha
ascus
Eukaryotic Model organism
Saccharomyces cerevisiaeis the best studied eukaryote and a
valuable tool for most aspects of basic research on eukaryotic
organisms. This is due to its unicellular nature, which often
simplifies matters, offering the combination of the facts that
nearly all biological functions found in eukaryotes are also
present and well conserved in S. cerevisiae. In addition, itis
also easily amenable to genetic manipulation.
 Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Bipolar
outbreeding
system
ascus

The name ‘Saccharomyces’ is Greek for

‘sugar fungus’, while the Latin-derived
species epithet ‘cerevisiae’ means ‘of
beer’, which taken together reflect this Septum
microbe’s fermentative capacity to quickly
convert simple sugars such as glucose into
ethanol and carbon dioxide.

•Asexual reproduction: budding

•Sexual reproduction: ascus production
 Curr Biol. 2019 August 05; 29(15): R743–R746
Bai, F.-Y.; Han, D.-Y.; Duan, S.-F.; Wang, Q.-M.
The Ecology and Evolution of the Baker’s Yeast
Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genes 2022, 13, 230.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ genes13020230

Mating type switching

3 mating type loci (with one is ‘active’) in

Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Genetic
diversification
mechanisms in
Saccharomyces
cerevisiae.
 Fungal factories
• Biocatalysts – biotransformation – organic
synthesis
• Fermentation: A biological method
resulting in products which are the result
of the complex metabolism of
microorganisms starting with inexpensive
simple C and N sources
• Enzymation (microbial transformation,
microbial conversion, biotransformation,
bioconversion)
Production of
high value
chemicals –
ethanol,
glycerol,
xylitol,
succinic acid and
other organic
acids
Bioinsecticide from Nature to Product
- Spider venom gene
- Genetic Recombination
- Yeast as production vector Food-grade genetically modified yeast
- Green Chemistry –
Artificial Synthesis of
Biologicals

Robust, Scalable Fermentation

The bioinsecticide is non-

toxic to bees and mammals Few & Simple Processing Steps
and fishes.

Act on
Pezizomycotina
Ostiole:
(stroma) Fraud product
opening of a
perithecium

Cordyceps sinense

Parasitic Cordyceps is a famous Traditional Chinese

medicine.
 Pezizomycotina The zombie-ant fungus
Ascomycete Ophiocordyceps fungi depend on ants to
reproduce and spread. Infected ants behave like zombies,
walking randomly and displaying convulsions that make them
fall down and preclude them from returning to the dry tree
canopy.produces enterotoxins, pertussis toxins, protein
Fungus
tyrosine phosphatase & aflatrem, which affects neuromuscular
and sensory functions (Animal behavior (2023) 203,225-240)
When the zombie ants’ heads are full of fungal cells, the ant
The fungus also causes atrophy in its will clamp down onto a leaf, roughly 25 cm off the forest
victim’s muscles, specifically around floor, which is optimal for the fungus later stage in
its mandibles. The atrophy causes the which it ejects spores which finally land on soil. The bites are
ant’s body to have lockjaw, allowing synchronized near noon (possibly cued by clock genes in the
the fungus to propagate. fungus) and usually occur in a N-NW orientation.
Two or three days later, a fungal stalk will emerge from the back of the ant’s head. After maturing
for a few weeks, the stalk’s head will shoot spores
This fossil ascomycotous fungus in an ant was
preserved in 50-million-year-old amber from
Europe’s Baltic region
“Allocordyceps baltica gen. et sp. nov. (Hypocreales:
ascocarp Clavicipitaceae), an ancient fungal parasite of an ant
Oregon State University research has identified the oldest known specimen in Baltic amber” by George Poinar and Yves-Marie
of a fungus parasitizing an ant, and the fossil also represents a new fungal Maltier, 5 June 2021, Fungal Biology
genus and species. Credit: George Poinar Jr., OSU
 Antibiotics
Penicillin from Penicillium rubens (source of several
beta-lactam antibiotics)

Sexual reproduction
is an ascomycete

Asexual reproduction by
production of conidia

Alexander Fleming 1929

 BIOL 3550 Plant Biology
True Fungi: Basidiomycetes

Interesting websites on Fungi: (start with http://www.)

herb.lsa.umich.edu.kidpage
pacificcoast.net/%7Emycolog/fifthtoc.html
Some basidiomycetes have clamped hyphae
- Highly similar with ascogenous hypha in ascomycetes

http://www.forestpathology.org/graphics/clamp.gif

Some basidiomycetous vegetative mycelium

do not have clamp connections.
Thousands of sexes in Fungi.
Fungi are sexy!
Bipolar outbreeding system
Mating A alpha
A - +
alpha + -

Tetrapolar outbreeding system

A1B1 A1B2 A2B1 A2B2
A1B1 - - - +
A1B2 - - + -
A2B1 - + - -
A2B2 + - - -
Tetrapolar outbreeding system

Multiple linked genes in a mating type locus; Multiple ‘alleles’ in a mating type locus.
Thousands of Sexes in Fungi
Ascomycete Basidiomycetes
Some basidiomycetes have TEM section
clamped hyphae
Clamp connection
- the maintenance of dolipore septa
conjugate nuclei per cell clamp connection

Basidium (sexual Holobasidia

cells) Phragmobasidium (septated)
- the meiocyte
bearing exospores
Septum
ultrastructure
unique to
Basidiomycetes

Ref.: Kwun-Chung
(1992) Medical
Mycology
 Karyogamy, Meiosis & Sporulation in Basidia
dikaryon

N+N

basidiospore

sterigma
basidium

A portion of hymenium
showing sporulating basidia

Discharged
basidiospores are
everywhere!
 Time

Actively discharged basidiospores: called ballistospores.

*Stand asymmetrically on sterigma

Webster’s mechanism of ballistospore discharge

The Buller’s Droplet at the Hillar appendix: secreted
solution by basidium containing mannitol and other
materials which are hygroscopic. This leads to water
condensation asymmetrically.
Wetting of spore surface by cohesion and adhesion.
Fast redistribution of mass leads to momentum to the
spore: surface tension catapult
 Ballistospore discharge

Spore print
Spore Cloud
 Discharge Distance (mm)
1.0

0.6

Genetic and environmental controls on the actual composition of the

Buller’s drop, and consequently the ballistospore discharge distance.
Urediniomycetes
- teliospore with
phragmobasidium (b)

RUSTS

SMUTS
Ustilaginomycetes
- teliospore with
phragmobasidium (c)

Hymenomycetes
- phragmobasidium (d)
- holobasidium (e)
Hymenomycetes

Hymenobasidiomycetidae
- dolipore septa

Tremellomycetidae
- dolipore septa

Ustilaginomycetes
(Smuts)
- simple ‘dolipore’

Urediniomycetes (Rusts)
- simple septa
- septal pore occlusions
Urediniomycetes:
Uredinales - the Rusts; ~5000 species
140-150 genera

Ustilagniomycetes:
Ustilaginales - the Smuts; ~1200 species
~50 genera

All are parasitic on plants, often causing great damage

to many cultivated crops

Heterothallic

Obligate biotroph - incapable of completing life cycle

saprobically
Phragmobasidiomycetes
This group is characterized by production of phragmobasidim, a four-cell basidium
that is divided by transverse or longitudinal septa. The fruiting bodies of this group
are jelly-like.
Tremella and Dacrymyces
are morphologically highly
similar but have different
basidia

“Jelly fungi”

Jelly fungi: Tremella spp

Wood-ear: Auricularia auricula Dacrymyces

Puccinia graminis (Rust) •Basidiospores (1N)
Mating discharged and land on
between (Stage 0) leaves to parasitize barley.
compatible •Form spermagonia for
pycnidiospores mating.

•Resultant hyphae (N+N)

produce asexual
reproductive structures
called aecia.
Brown spots on Upper
Epidermis of leaf: Spermagonia •Aeciospores (N+N)
(= pycnidia, pycnia) infect wheat in spring

Aecia on lower
(Stage I) epidermis of leaf
Alternate host to Over Winter: rose (Rosa), barley (Berberis)
Puccinia graminis •Complete karyogamy,
meiosis & sporulation
Host 1: Wheat (Triticum aestivum) in each cell of the
teliospore.
(Stage IV)
An aeciospore (N + N) infects wheat •Basidiospore (1N)
An intracelulluar parasite in Spring infects barley
2-celled teliospores (= basidia)
(Stage II)

Asexual reproduction in summer:

produce Uredia
in Winter

Uredium In Autumn,
sexual
reproduction to
find alternate
Urediospore (N + N) host (Stage III) Telium (= telial sorus)
Ustilaginomycetes: Smut fungi Ustilaginoidea virens

Ustilago maydis
Meiosis Promycelium Plasmogamy
with basidiospore

2n n Dikaryotic cell
Mature teliospore n n +on
n host surface
2n
Karyogamy n+n
Teliospore
Immature teliospore Mycelium in host

Teliospore formation Galls

From agarics to gasteromycetes
1

2 3

5 6

8 9

10

Universal / partial
Veil, volva, scales,
annulus
Fatal Mushroom Poisoning Agarics

Amatoxins
account for
90% of
worldwide
mushroom
fatalities
• LD50: 0.1 mg/kg (lethal dose)
• Mushroom contains: 5-15mg Volva
of toxin
Amanita phalloides Edible Volvariella volvacea
Family Amanitaceae Family Plutaceae
Free gills, white spores
Free gills,
Partial veil remaining as an annulus, deciduous Pink spores at maturity
Universal veil remaining as volva and patches No annulus
on cap Universal veil remaining as volva
Mycorrhizal Saprotrophic
Example: Amanita Example: Volvariella
Not all Amanita species are poisonous Not all Volvariella species are edible
 Club fungi: hymenium with indistinct “Crust fungi”:
gills/ridges
resuspinate

Serpula

Phanerochaete
Clavariadelphus Gomphus
Russulales
Boletales

Ramaria

Suillus Russula Coral fungi

Aphyllophorales/Polypores

Basidiospores

Basidium
Tooth fungi:
Teeth Hericium erinaceus

Cantharellus cibarius
tubes

Gills
 Gasteromycetes = stomach fungi
• splash cups
Cyathus • peridioles
(packets of
basidiospores)
Bird’s nest fungi • peridioles
connected to
“nest” by cord
(hapteron)
earth star
puffball

Puffball
Lycoperdon
Geastrum Stinkhorn
false truffle

Phallus Hysterangium
Dictyophora indusiata Stinkhorn: Clathrus ruber
 Wood Decay and Forest/ Urban tree Disease

• Saprotroph (= saprophyte, saprobe) - an organism that acquires its nutrition

from dead and decaying plant matter, or other organic non-living substrate
• Biotroph - an obligate parasite growing on or in another organism; acquires
derived from living cells
• Necrotroph - parasite that kills host cells; acquires nutrition from dead cells
• Pathogen - a parasite that causes disease
The Stages of Tree Decay
Types of Decay:
 White rot - all components
removed
 Brown rot - primarily
carbohydrates lost, lignin
mostly remains
 Soft rot - carbohydrates
preferred, but some lignin
lost too
White rot fungi
• largest group of wood rot fungi; Basidiomycota, Ascomycota
• degrade cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin at ~equal rates
• produce a white stringy decay of wood
• 3 classes of enzymes for cellulose & hemicellulose degradation
Hydrolytic: cellulase, glucanases, glucosidases
Oxidative enzymes: cellobiose (=hemicellulose)
Oxidoreductase: cellobiose reductase
• several enzymes involved in what is referred to as an
"enzymatic combustion” of lignin, nonspecific

• degradation of lignin by phenol oxidases

• Laccase
• Lignin peroxidase
• Mn-peroxidase

lignin
 Brown Rot
Shrinking of wood on drying; cross- checking may occur
Cellulose and hemicellulose broken down through non-
enzymatic and enzymatic means
Lignin (which is brown) not degraded; ends up becoming
humus
Agent of decay - various species of Basidiomycetes and
some Ascomycetes

fhpr8.srs.fs.fed.us/idotis/diseases/
Phellinus spp.
• causing agent of laminated root rot
• important in the decline of the Douglas-fir
stage of succession in cedar-hemlock
forests
• affects other conifers as well (e.g., Pinus
spp.)

Fompitopsis officinalis
•used by indigenous peoples of the PNW:
grave guardians, administered medicinally, the
quinine conch, treatment of tuberculosis

www.pilzverein.de/galerie/galerie.htm
 Soft Rot
 Usually attacks unprotected dead plant tissue
 Carbohydrates preferred
 Usually on surface, some fibrous texture lost, cross-checking in some
cases
 Agent of decay - various species of Ascomycetes, Deuteromycetes,
and a few Basidiomycetes

• decay of wet wood

• degrade cellulosic material in soil and estuaries
• mostly ascomycetes
• degrade cellulose and hemicellulose via cellulases
• do not degrade lignin
 Asexual stage: Thielaviopsis paradoxa
Sexual stage: Ceratocystis paradoxa
Thielaviopsis paradoxa infects a palm when a
fresh wound is present
Mycelium: cinnamon to light brown
or gray to light black

Sudden Palm (Washingtonis filifera) Death

Black Rot, Canker and butt Rot, bud rot, leaf spot,
heart rot, bleeding trunk canker & root decay

SOFT ROT
Mushroom Cultivation is a Waste Recycling Practice
Waste Paper, Sawdust, Straw, Waste Tea Leaves, kitchen waste,
Livestock Manure

Nutrient Cycling

Scientific Principles:
1. Fungi secrete enzymes to degrade substrates for growth.
2. Provide light to stimulate fruiting
 Mycorrhizae
• Infected plant shunt about 15% of sugars
produced by leaves to the mycorrhizal
symbiont
• Extends of root systems of the plant
• Finer strands grow into tinier pores than can
roots
• Forage for water, phosphorus, and other
nutrients that plants cannot reach
Ascomycete Rhizoscyphus ericae
fungus penetrates the cell walls of roots
and forms coiled structures within each
cell without penetrating the host
plasmalemma

Ericoid mycorrhiza
Orchid mycorrhizae
• an orchid seed has virtually no energy
reserve and obtains its carbon from the
fungal symbiont
http://www.ffp.csiro.au/research/mycorrhiza/intro.html
Evolutionary importance of mycorrhizae
• land plants colonized land approx. 400-
500 MYA
• fossils of Devonian land plants contain
VAM fungi

Rhynie Chert fossil

Vesicle
AM: Arbuscular Mycorrhizae
= VAM: Vesicular-Arbuscular Mycorrhizae
Arbuscular mycorrhiza is the most ancient
and widespread form. Paleobotanical and
The term ‘mykorrhiza’ was first used in molecular sequence data suggest that the
1885 by Frank (see Frank, 2005, for a first land plants formed associations with
translation) to describe the modified Glomalean fungi from the Glomeromycota
root structures of forest trees, and has about 460 million years ago (Redecker et
since been extended to cover a range al., 2000). This is estimated to be some
of mutualistic, symbiotic associations 300–400 million years before the
between fungi and plant roots (Smith appearance of root nodule symbioses with
& Read, 2008). nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
 Arbuscules

Arbuscular mycorrhizae are symbiotic associations between fungi from the

Glomeromycota phylum and the roots of 70% of land plant species (both herbaceous
and woody), distributed widely across the globe, but most densely in the sub-tropics.
The fungus forms inter- and intracellular aseptate hyphae in roots as well as
intracellular structures called ‘arbuscules’, which are the main sites of carbon-for-
nutrients exchange
Definition of the range of spheres influenced by root or by AM fungi in soil, forming the endosphere,
rhizosphere, mycorrhizosphere and hyphosphere. The AM hyphae-mediated physical, chemical and
biological changes and nutrient cycling in the hyphosphere.

AM = VAM EcM

Hartig
net

Ascomycetes &
Basidiomycetes
Plant Soil (2022) 481:1–22 Zygomycetes
 Version 2
MYCORRHIZAL ASSOCIATIONS: The Web Resource
© Mark Brundrett 2008
Section 9. ECTOMYCORRHIZAL FUNGI Images © Neale Bougher & Mark Brundrett
Hawkins et al. Current Biology 33, R560–R573, June 5, 2023
 A significant contribution
made by mycorrhizal
CO2e: Carbon dioxide equivalents; the CO2e is a
unit used to express all greenhouse gases as CO2
associations to global carbon
equivalents in terms of global warming potential dynamics

For > 400 million years, mycorrhizal

fungi and plants have formed
partnerships that are crucial to the
emergence and functioning of global
ecosystems.
The authors estimated that: global
plant communities allocate 3.93 Gt
Millions years ago CO2e per year to arbuscular
mycorrhizal fungi, 9.07 GtCO2e per
year to ectomycorrhizal fungi, and
0.12 GtCO2e per year to ericoid
mycorrhizal fungi temporarily,
equating in total to 36% of current
annual CO2 emissions from fossil
fuels..
Gt, gigatons, 109 tons

The evolution of the plant–fungal symbiosis coincided with plant radiation and a 10-fold
reduction in atmospheric CO2 levels during the Paleozoic Era and beyond.
Hawkins et al. 33, R560–R573, June 5, 2023
 The mechanisms by
which mycorrhizal fungi help
gain and lose carbon in soil.
(A)Drawdown of atmospheric CO2
into plant biomass during
photosynthesis (net primary
productivity (NPP)) varies for the
different types of plants categorized
according to their mycorrhizal
associations
(B) Plant-derived carbon is used to
build and support an active mycelial
network. Globally, it appears that
faster growing plants (herbaceous
versus woody; broad- versus
needleleaf trees) allocate more
photosynthate to their mycorrhizal
partners. Also, while vegetation with
AM covers more land and has higher
biomass, EcM fungi contribute
NPP: Net Primary Productivity
relatively more to the soil carbon
Abbreviations: AM (arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi); EcM pool.
(ectomycorrhizal fungi); ErM (ericoid mycorrhizal fungi).
Hawkins et al. Current Biology 33, R560–R573, June 5, 2023
 (C) Carbon
remains in the
AM (arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi); EcM (ectomycorrhizal fungi); ErM (ericoid mycorrhizal fungi).
form of fungal
necromass acting
as a scaffold for
soils.
Mycorrhizal
fungi produce
compounds that
help retain
carbon in the soil
including
exudates, and
chitin or melanin
in hyphae, where
specially small
organic
NPP: Net Primary Productivity Question marks indicate a lack of data. compounds
become bound
(D) Carbon is lost during soil respiration and decomposition of organic matter, and and stabilized on
may also be re-fixed napleurotically, remain in the soil, or be released into the mineral surfaces.
atmosphere. While more data are required, the relative width of arrows is based on
values from this study (%NPP) or the available literature (respiration/re-fixation;
decomposition). Hawkins et al. Current Biology 33, R560–R573, June 5, 2023
 Inoculation
• Infecting soil with useful organisms
• e.g. Mycorrhizal inoculation

How can mycorrhizal inoculation increase farm

yields and decrease costs?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdrZAy-WaR8
Trichoderma is an ascomycete
Lichens are the symbiotic phenotype from the interactions of a single filamentous
fungus and one or few photosynthetic partners (algae, cyanobacterium)+ may include
accessory fungi,
Cyanobacterium / non-photosynthetic
bacteria, and algae,
too

Cructose lichen

Cyanobacterium /

Capture of an
Foliose alga by fungal
lichen hyphae

(2020)
https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.04.966853 doi: bioRxiv preprint

Fruticose lichen
Science. 2016 July 29;
353(6298): 488–492.

These micro-
organisms are
borne by air to
land. They grow on
a surface and
incidentally
encounter…

Fluorescent cell imaging of dual fungal elements in lichen thalli.

(A) Scanning electron microscopy image of a thallus filament of Bryoria capillaris (horsehair
lichen) (scale bar, 200 μm). (B) FISH hybridization of B. capillaris thallus, showing
basidiomycetous yeasts (green) and the Bryoria (blue) with algal chlorophyll A auto-
fluorescence (red). (C) Detail of yeast cells (scale bar, 5 μm)
Loose Fungal-Algal Association Association of Lyomyces sambuci and
Desmococcus olivaceus .
(A) bark of Sambucus nigra covered by a
free-living Desmococcus algal crust which
largely overgrown by Lyomyces;
(B) vertical section of the Lyomyces crust
a distinct algal layer;
(C) Vertical section with the red
autofluorescence;
(D) algal colonies incorporated in a loose
hyphal tissue, below the cover of
fungal tissue;
(E) Desmococcus in the algal layer;
(F) Desmococcus and Lyomyces form
lichen-like goniocysts.
Scales: (B, C), 100 μm; (D, E, F), 20 μm.
The fungal partner does not cause any
obvious harm to the algae. Algae enclosed in
fungal tissue exhibited a substantial CO2
Uptake. Fungi in alcobioses are not
nutritionally dependent on the algal partner.

Scientific Reports | (2023) 13:2957 |

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-29384-4
 Deuteromycetes, also known as Fungi Imperfecti, are an artificial (non-
phyletic) group of fungal species which only reproduce asexually, or have
their sexual forms yet to be found. This artificial, non-phylogenetic
classification exists because fungi have historically been grouped to
various levels of classification according to the morphology of their
fruiting bodies and sexual spores. Therefore, members of the
Deuteromycotina were those species that reproduce only asexually, their
mode of reproduction was uncertain, or they do not produce spores.
Deuteromycetes also known as Deuteromycota, Deuteromycotina, fungi
imperfecti, and mitosporic fungus, is an anamorphic fungus, or a fungi
(Kingdom Fungi) in which a real sexual state is rare or unknown. Many of
these funguses reproduce asexually, either through spores (conidia or oidia)
or through budding. Conidial stages are similar to those found in the
Ascomycota phylum, however, some species have similarities with lower
(primitive) fungi and the Basidiomycota phylum.
 Fungi are Fun
Fungi are both good and bad.

To Know & Understand Fungi,

To Appreciate Fungi,
To Use Fungi

Thank You