Laboratory Exercise 7A: Diversity of Fungi
Biology II Laboratory BSC1011L Version: BJ AG NB DB AN SF BE Date:8June24__________________________________________________________________________________
Material is also covered in Chapters 31 of Campbell Biology, 12th Ed., Urry, Cain, Wasserman, Minorsky and Orr. Page numbers
refer to Chapter 6 (pages 135-148) of A Photographic Atlas for the Biology Laboratory, 8th edition.
Guides to supplementary pictures are in a small font. Examine the photos in the atlas if a concept is not clear.
Group Members: _____________________________________ ___________________________________________
_________________________________________ _________________________________________
KEY CONCEPTS:
1. Fungi are eukaryotes, and closely related to the animals.
2. Fungi are heterotrophs; they absorb their nutrition from dead organic matter
(saprophytes) or from living hosts (parasites).
3. The major groups of fungi differ in their asexual and sexual lifecycles, but the
groups we will examine have many similarities. In the sexual cycle,
plasmogamy or fusion of the cytoplasm occurs at a different time than
karyogamy, or fusion of the nuclei. Figure 1. Amanita phalloides
accounts for the majority of fatal
4. Fungi have diverse forms. Although there may be seven or more phyla, we will mushroom poisonings worldwide.
examine only four in lab. You may learn about the basal Cryptomycetes and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungi
Microsporidians, and the Zoopagomycetes, that we will not examine here.
Main group Key traits that define the group
Cryptomycetes None in the laboratory, not covered in this lab.
Microsporidians None in the laboratory, not covered in this lab.
1 Chytrids: Some decomposers, but also many parasites of protists, other fungi,
plants and animals.
Contributed to global decline of amphibians.
Zoopagomycetes (some previously None in the laboratory, not covered in this lab.
called Zygomycota)
2 Mucoromycetes Includes the fast-growing molds (bread, strawberries). Many are plant
(Some previously called parasites or plant pathogens.
Zygomycota) Plasmogamy produces the zygosporangium.
Glomeromycetes Form arbuscular mycorrhizae, structures critical for plant nutrition.
3 Ascomycetes: “sac fungi” Some yeasts, molds, morels, and truffles
In sexual reproduction, form saclike asci containing ascospores, often
in a fruiting body called an ascocarp.
4 Basidiomycetes: “club fungi” Mushrooms, puffballs, shelf fungi, forms that form mycorrhizae, and
parasitic rusts and smuts. Best groups for decomposing wood (lignin).
Form basidia or “little pedestals” which are club shaped (club fungi).
5. Lichens are a symbiotic association of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner (usually an alga or cyanobacterium)
Lab 7A – Diversity of Fungi
that can produce food for the lichen from sunlight.
SKILLS YOU SHOULD MASTER BY THE END OF THE LAB:
1. Recognizing the basic and life forms of fungi in four basic groups.
2. Recognizing the importance of the heterotrophic mode of nutrition to ecosystems.
3. Be able to understand the generalized life cycle of fungi (asexual cycle and sexual cycles).
4. Be able to identify the roles mitosis and meiosis play in the sexual life cycle, and the difference between
haploid, diploid and dikaryotic cells, and between plasmogamy and karyogamy.
5. Recognize that lichens are made up of fungi and algae and recognize their various forms.
6. Recognize the differences between symbiotic, parasitic, and commensal relationships
1
,7. VOCABULARY:
Mycology Zygosporangium Basidiospores
Hyphae Zygospore Gills
Septa Sporangium Chitin
Mycelium Sporangiophore Symbiosis
Stolon Mycorrhizae Mutualism
Rhizoids Ascus/ Asci Saprophytic
Plasmogamy Ascospores Parasitic
Karyogamy Conidia Commensal
Heterokaryotic Conidiophore Obligate
Dikaryotic Basidium/ Basidia Facultative
The material we will examine today:
Main group Types, comments Specimens you will examine
1. Chytrids One of the oldest lineages of None in lab Video clips
fungi Two species are considered the
cause of the current decline in
amphibians.
2. Mucoromycetes (Formerly Zygomycetes) Rhizopus – Live culture (Demonstration)
Reproductive structure is a bread mold Prepared slide- Rhizopus
resistant zygosporangium. conjugation
Glomeromycetes- Form None in lab Note the arbuscular mycorrhizae
arbuscular mycorrhizae. and their importance
3. Ascomycetes Sac fungi (some yeasts, Peziza – Prepared slide-Peziza apothecium
molds, morels, and truffles). cup fungus
Penicillium Live culture
Sexual reproduction is in a Prepared slide-Penicillium conidia
sac-like structure called an Aspergillus Live culture
ascus. Prepared slide-Aspergillus
conidiophores
4. Basidiomycetes Club fungi (mushrooms, Coprinus Prepared slide – Coprinus
Lab 7A – Diversity of Fungi
puffballs, shelf fungi, rusts
and smuts, and some that
form mycorrhizae).
Sexual reproductive
structure is a basidium that
produces sexual spores.
Lichens are not a fungus, but a symbiotic association of a fungus and an alga.
Types, comments Specimens you will examine
Lichens Symbiotic association of an Crustose, Lab Specimens
algae and a fungus Fruticose, and Prepared slide-Lichen ascocarp
Foliose types Specimens on campus
2
, INTRODUCTION
Read through the material below and answer the following questions about fungi.
Mycology is the study of fungi. There are plenty to study, about 250,000 extant (not extinct) species.
Yeasts are unicellular forms:
Unicellular and free-living fungi are called yeasts. Some fungi have life stages that alternate between unicellular
and multicellular stages. The unicellular stages are referred to as yeast life stages. Most species that we consider
yeasts are in the Ascomycota, but single-celled forms (yeast forms) exist in the other groups as well.
Multicellular forms have many structures:
Multicellular fungi have bodies made
up of filaments, called hyphae. These
have exterior tubular cells walls. The
hyphae may or may not be divided into
smaller cells by septa, or cross walls
that allow the cell contents to pass
through them.
Hyphae secrete enzymes that break
down organic matter into nutrients, then
absorb them.
1. Which hypha in the picture is divided into smaller cells by septa? _________ (A, B, and/or C?)
2. Which hyphae are multi-nucleate (have many nuclei per cell)? __________ (A, B, and/or C?)
3. What are the small purple structures from which the hyphae grow? ___________________________________
The hyphae can be up in the air (arial
hyphae) and hold the sporangia or
spore forming structures. Other arial
hyphae can be horizontal connections,
much like branches, called stolon. The
fuzzy parts of bread mold you can see
are the arial hyphae.
The aerial hypha is made up of a
sporangiophore (stalk) and dark
spherical sporangium on top holding
the spores (see image below)
Hyphae can also penetrate living or dead
tissue (rhizoid hyphae). Rhizoids of
Lab 7A – Diversity of Fungi
bread mold penetrate the bread. A whole
network of interwoven hyphae that
penetrates another organism or structure
is called a mycelium. The mycelium is
the main body of the fungus.
3
Biology II Laboratory BSC1011L Version: BJ AG NB DB AN SF BE Date:8June24__________________________________________________________________________________
Material is also covered in Chapters 31 of Campbell Biology, 12th Ed., Urry, Cain, Wasserman, Minorsky and Orr. Page numbers
refer to Chapter 6 (pages 135-148) of A Photographic Atlas for the Biology Laboratory, 8th edition.
Guides to supplementary pictures are in a small font. Examine the photos in the atlas if a concept is not clear.
Group Members: _____________________________________ ___________________________________________
_________________________________________ _________________________________________
KEY CONCEPTS:
1. Fungi are eukaryotes, and closely related to the animals.
2. Fungi are heterotrophs; they absorb their nutrition from dead organic matter
(saprophytes) or from living hosts (parasites).
3. The major groups of fungi differ in their asexual and sexual lifecycles, but the
groups we will examine have many similarities. In the sexual cycle,
plasmogamy or fusion of the cytoplasm occurs at a different time than
karyogamy, or fusion of the nuclei. Figure 1. Amanita phalloides
accounts for the majority of fatal
4. Fungi have diverse forms. Although there may be seven or more phyla, we will mushroom poisonings worldwide.
examine only four in lab. You may learn about the basal Cryptomycetes and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungi
Microsporidians, and the Zoopagomycetes, that we will not examine here.
Main group Key traits that define the group
Cryptomycetes None in the laboratory, not covered in this lab.
Microsporidians None in the laboratory, not covered in this lab.
1 Chytrids: Some decomposers, but also many parasites of protists, other fungi,
plants and animals.
Contributed to global decline of amphibians.
Zoopagomycetes (some previously None in the laboratory, not covered in this lab.
called Zygomycota)
2 Mucoromycetes Includes the fast-growing molds (bread, strawberries). Many are plant
(Some previously called parasites or plant pathogens.
Zygomycota) Plasmogamy produces the zygosporangium.
Glomeromycetes Form arbuscular mycorrhizae, structures critical for plant nutrition.
3 Ascomycetes: “sac fungi” Some yeasts, molds, morels, and truffles
In sexual reproduction, form saclike asci containing ascospores, often
in a fruiting body called an ascocarp.
4 Basidiomycetes: “club fungi” Mushrooms, puffballs, shelf fungi, forms that form mycorrhizae, and
parasitic rusts and smuts. Best groups for decomposing wood (lignin).
Form basidia or “little pedestals” which are club shaped (club fungi).
5. Lichens are a symbiotic association of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner (usually an alga or cyanobacterium)
Lab 7A – Diversity of Fungi
that can produce food for the lichen from sunlight.
SKILLS YOU SHOULD MASTER BY THE END OF THE LAB:
1. Recognizing the basic and life forms of fungi in four basic groups.
2. Recognizing the importance of the heterotrophic mode of nutrition to ecosystems.
3. Be able to understand the generalized life cycle of fungi (asexual cycle and sexual cycles).
4. Be able to identify the roles mitosis and meiosis play in the sexual life cycle, and the difference between
haploid, diploid and dikaryotic cells, and between plasmogamy and karyogamy.
5. Recognize that lichens are made up of fungi and algae and recognize their various forms.
6. Recognize the differences between symbiotic, parasitic, and commensal relationships
1
,7. VOCABULARY:
Mycology Zygosporangium Basidiospores
Hyphae Zygospore Gills
Septa Sporangium Chitin
Mycelium Sporangiophore Symbiosis
Stolon Mycorrhizae Mutualism
Rhizoids Ascus/ Asci Saprophytic
Plasmogamy Ascospores Parasitic
Karyogamy Conidia Commensal
Heterokaryotic Conidiophore Obligate
Dikaryotic Basidium/ Basidia Facultative
The material we will examine today:
Main group Types, comments Specimens you will examine
1. Chytrids One of the oldest lineages of None in lab Video clips
fungi Two species are considered the
cause of the current decline in
amphibians.
2. Mucoromycetes (Formerly Zygomycetes) Rhizopus – Live culture (Demonstration)
Reproductive structure is a bread mold Prepared slide- Rhizopus
resistant zygosporangium. conjugation
Glomeromycetes- Form None in lab Note the arbuscular mycorrhizae
arbuscular mycorrhizae. and their importance
3. Ascomycetes Sac fungi (some yeasts, Peziza – Prepared slide-Peziza apothecium
molds, morels, and truffles). cup fungus
Penicillium Live culture
Sexual reproduction is in a Prepared slide-Penicillium conidia
sac-like structure called an Aspergillus Live culture
ascus. Prepared slide-Aspergillus
conidiophores
4. Basidiomycetes Club fungi (mushrooms, Coprinus Prepared slide – Coprinus
Lab 7A – Diversity of Fungi
puffballs, shelf fungi, rusts
and smuts, and some that
form mycorrhizae).
Sexual reproductive
structure is a basidium that
produces sexual spores.
Lichens are not a fungus, but a symbiotic association of a fungus and an alga.
Types, comments Specimens you will examine
Lichens Symbiotic association of an Crustose, Lab Specimens
algae and a fungus Fruticose, and Prepared slide-Lichen ascocarp
Foliose types Specimens on campus
2
, INTRODUCTION
Read through the material below and answer the following questions about fungi.
Mycology is the study of fungi. There are plenty to study, about 250,000 extant (not extinct) species.
Yeasts are unicellular forms:
Unicellular and free-living fungi are called yeasts. Some fungi have life stages that alternate between unicellular
and multicellular stages. The unicellular stages are referred to as yeast life stages. Most species that we consider
yeasts are in the Ascomycota, but single-celled forms (yeast forms) exist in the other groups as well.
Multicellular forms have many structures:
Multicellular fungi have bodies made
up of filaments, called hyphae. These
have exterior tubular cells walls. The
hyphae may or may not be divided into
smaller cells by septa, or cross walls
that allow the cell contents to pass
through them.
Hyphae secrete enzymes that break
down organic matter into nutrients, then
absorb them.
1. Which hypha in the picture is divided into smaller cells by septa? _________ (A, B, and/or C?)
2. Which hyphae are multi-nucleate (have many nuclei per cell)? __________ (A, B, and/or C?)
3. What are the small purple structures from which the hyphae grow? ___________________________________
The hyphae can be up in the air (arial
hyphae) and hold the sporangia or
spore forming structures. Other arial
hyphae can be horizontal connections,
much like branches, called stolon. The
fuzzy parts of bread mold you can see
are the arial hyphae.
The aerial hypha is made up of a
sporangiophore (stalk) and dark
spherical sporangium on top holding
the spores (see image below)
Hyphae can also penetrate living or dead
tissue (rhizoid hyphae). Rhizoids of
Lab 7A – Diversity of Fungi
bread mold penetrate the bread. A whole
network of interwoven hyphae that
penetrates another organism or structure
is called a mycelium. The mycelium is
the main body of the fungus.
3
