Fungus

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"Fungi" redirects here. For other uses, see Fungi (disambiguation).

Fungi

Temporal range: Early Devonian–

Present (but see text) 410–0 Ma 

PreꞒ

Pg

N
 Clockwise from top left:

 Amanita muscaria, a

basidiomycete;

Sarcoscypha coccinea, an

ascomycete;

bread covered in mold;

 a chytrid;

an Aspergillus conidiopho

re.

Scientific classification

(unranked): Opisthokonta

(unranked): Holomycota

(unranked): Zoosporia

Kingdom: Fungi

(L.) R.T.Moore[1]

Subkingdoms/Phyla

 Rozellomyceta

o Rozellomyc

ota

o Microsporid

ia

 Aphelidiomyceta

o Aphelidiom

ycota

 Chytridiomyceta

o Neocallimas

tigomycota

o Chytridiom

ycota

 Blastocladiomyceta

o Blastocladio

mycota
  Zoopagomyceta

o Basidiobolo

mycota

o Entomophth

oromycota

o Kickxellom

ycota

 Mortierellomycota

 Mucoromyceta

o Calcarispori

ellomycota

o Mucoromyc

ota

 Symbiomycota

o Glomeromy

cota

o Entorrhizom

ycota

o Basidiomyc

ota

o Ascomycota

A fungus (plural: fungi  or funguses ) is any member of the group

[2] [3]

of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as

well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom,
which is separate from the other eukaryotic life kingdoms of plants and animals.
A characteristic that places fungi in a different kingdom from plants, bacteria, and some
protists is chitin in their cell walls. Fungi, like animals, are heterotrophs; they acquire
their food by absorbing dissolved molecules, typically by secreting digestive
enzymes into their environment. Fungi do not photosynthesize. Growth is their means
of mobility, except for spores (a few of which are flagellated), which may travel through
the air or water. Fungi are the principal decomposers in ecological systems. These and
other differences place fungi in a single group of related organisms, named
the Eumycota (true fungi or Eumycetes), which share a common ancestor (from
a monophyletic group), an interpretation that is also strongly supported by molecular
phylogenetics. This fungal group is distinct from the structurally
similar myxomycetes (slime molds) and oomycetes (water molds). The discipline
of biology devoted to the study of fungi is known as mycology (from
the Greek μύκης mykes, mushroom). In the past, mycology was regarded as a branch
 of botany, although it is now known fungi are genetically more closely related to animals
than to plants.
Abundant worldwide, most fungi are inconspicuous because of the small size of their
structures, and their cryptic lifestyles in soil or on dead matter. Fungi
include symbionts of plants, animals, or other fungi and also parasites. They may
become noticeable when fruiting, either as mushrooms or as molds. Fungi perform an
essential role in the decomposition of organic matter and have fundamental roles in
nutrient cycling and exchange in the environment. They have long been used as a direct
source of human food, in the form of mushrooms and truffles; as a leavening agent for
bread; and in the fermentation of various food products, such as wine, beer, and soy
sauce. Since the 1940s, fungi have been used for the production of antibiotics, and,
more recently, various enzymes produced by fungi are used industrially and
in detergents. Fungi are also used as biological pesticides to control weeds, plant
diseases and insect pests. Many species produce bioactive compounds
called mycotoxins, such as alkaloids and polyketides, that are toxic to animals including
humans. The fruiting structures of a few species contain psychotropic compounds and
are consumed recreationally or in traditional spiritual ceremonies. Fungi can break down
manufactured materials and buildings, and become significant pathogens of humans
and other animals. Losses of crops due to fungal diseases (e.g., rice blast disease) or
food spoilage can have a large impact on human food supplies and local economies.
The fungus kingdom encompasses an enormous diversity of taxa with varied
ecologies, life cycle strategies, and morphologies ranging from unicellular
aquatic chytrids to large mushrooms. However, little is known of the true biodiversity of
Kingdom Fungi, which has been estimated at 2.2 million to 3.8 million species.  Of
[4]

these, only about 148,000 have been described,  with over 8,000 species known to be
[5]

detrimental to plants and at least 300 that can be pathogenic to humans.  Ever since the
[6]

pioneering 18th and 19th century taxonomical works of Carl Linnaeus, Christian Hendrik

Persoon, and Elias Magnus Fries, fungi have been classified according to their
morphology (e.g., characteristics such as spore color or microscopic features)
or physiology. Advances in molecular genetics have opened the way for DNA
analysis to be incorporated into taxonomy, which has sometimes challenged the
historical groupings based on morphology and other traits. Phylogenetic studies
published in the first decade of the 21st century have helped reshape the classification
within Kingdom Fungi, which is divided into one subkingdom, seven phyla, and ten
subphyla.

Contents

 1Etymology
 2Characteristics
 3Diversity
 4Mycology
o 4.1History
 5Morphology
o 5.1Microscopic structures
o 5.2Macroscopic structures
 6Growth and physiology
 7Reproduction
o 7.1Asexual reproduction
o 7.2Sexual reproduction
o 7.3Spore dispersal
o 7.4Homothallism
o 7.5Other sexual processes
 8Evolution
 9Taxonomy
o 9.1Taxonomic groups
o 9.2Fungus-like organisms
 10Ecology
o 10.1Symbiosis
 10.1.1With plants
 10.1.2With algae and cyanobacteria
 10.1.3With insects
 10.1.4As pathogens and parasites
 10.1.5As targets of mycoparasites
 11Mycotoxins
 12Pathogenic mechanisms
 13Human use
o 13.1Therapeutic uses
 13.1.1Modern chemotherapeutics
o 13.2Traditional and folk medicine
o 13.3Cultured foods
o 13.4In food
o 13.5Poisonous fungi
o 13.6Pest control
o 13.7Bioremediation
o 13.8Model organisms
o 13.9Others
 14See also
 15References
o 15.1Cited literature
 16External links

Etymology
The English word fungus is directly adopted from the Latin fungus (mushroom), used in
the writings of Horace and Pliny.  This in turn is derived from
[7]

the Greek word sphongos (σφόγγος "sponge"), which refers to

the macroscopic structures and morphology of mushrooms and molds;  the root is also
[8]

used in other languages, such as the German Schwamm ("sponge")

and Schimmel ("mold"). [9]

The word mycology is derived from the Greek mykes (μύκης "mushroom")

and logos (λόγος "discourse").  It denotes the scientific study of fungi. The Latin
[10]

adjectival form of "mycology" (mycologicæ) appeared as early as 1796 in a book on the

subject by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon.  The word appeared in English as early as 1824
[11]

in a book by Robert Kaye Greville.  In 1836 the English naturalist Miles Joseph
[12]

Berkeley's publication The English Flora of Sir James Edward Smith, Vol. 5. also refers
to mycology as the study of fungi. [8][13]

A group of all the fungi present in a particular area or geographic region is known
as mycobiota (plural noun, no singular), e.g., "the mycobiota of Ireland". [14]
Characteristics

Fungal hyphae cells

1. Hyphal wall

2. Septum

3. Mitochondrion

4. Vacuole

5. Ergosterol crystal

6. Ribosome

7. Nucleus

8. Endoplasmic reticulum

9. Lipid body

10. Plasma membrane

11. Spitzenkörper

12. Golgi apparatus

Fungal cell cycle showing Dikaryons typical of Higher Fungi

Before the introduction of molecular methods for phylogenetic

analysis, taxonomists considered fungi to be members of the plant kingdom because of
similarities in lifestyle: both fungi and plants are mainly immobile, and have similarities
in general morphology and growth habitat. Like plants, fungi often grow in soil and, in
the case of mushrooms, form conspicuous fruit bodies, which sometimes resemble
plants such as mosses. The fungi are now considered a separate kingdom, distinct from
both plants and animals, from which they appear to have diverged around one billion
years ago (around the start of the Neoproterozoic Era).  Some morphological,
[15][16]

biochemical, and genetic features are shared with other organisms, while others are
unique to the fungi, clearly separating them from the other kingdoms:
Shared features:
 With other eukaryotes: Fungal cells contain membrane-
bound nuclei with chromosomes that contain DNA with noncoding
regions called introns and coding regions called exons. Fungi have membrane-
bound cytoplasmic organelles such as mitochondria, sterol-containing membranes,
and ribosomes of the 80S type.  They have a characteristic range of soluble
[17]

carbohydrates and storage compounds, including sugar

alcohols (e.g., mannitol), disaccharides, (e.g., trehalose),
and polysaccharides (e.g., glycogen, which is also found in animals ). [18]

 With animals: Fungi lack chloroplasts and are heterotrophic organisms and so

require preformed organic compounds as energy sources. [19]

 With plants: Fungi have a cell wall  and vacuoles.  They reproduce by both
[20] [21]

sexual and asexual means, and like basal plant groups (such as ferns and mosses)

produce spores. Similar to mosses and algae, fungi typically have haploid nuclei. [22]

 With euglenoids and bacteria: Higher fungi, euglenoids, and some bacteria

produce the amino acid L-lysine in specific biosynthesis steps, called the α-
aminoadipate pathway. [23][24]

 The cells of most fungi grow as tubular, elongated, and thread-like (filamentous)
structures called hyphae, which may contain multiple nuclei and extend by growing
at their tips. Each tip contains a set of aggregated vesicles—cellular structures
consisting of proteins, lipids, and other organic molecules—called the Spitzenkörper.
 Both fungi and oomycetes grow as filamentous hyphal cells.  In contrast, similar-
[25] [26]

looking organisms, such as filamentous green algae, grow by repeated cell division

within a chain of cells.  There are also single-celled fungi (yeasts) that do not form
[18]

hyphae, and some fungi have both hyphal and yeast forms. [27]

 In common with some plant and animal species, more than 70 fungal

species display bioluminescence. [28]

Unique features:

 Some species grow as unicellular yeasts that reproduce

by budding or fission. Dimorphic fungi can switch between a yeast phase and a
hyphal phase in response to environmental conditions. [27]

 The fungal cell wall is composed of glucans and chitin; while glucans are also
found in plants and chitin in the exoskeleton of arthropods,  fungi are the only
[29][30]

organisms that combine these two structural molecules in their cell wall. Unlike
those of plants and oomycetes, fungal cell walls do not contain cellulose. [31]
Omphalotus nidiformis, a bioluminescent mushroom

Most fungi lack an efficient system for the long-distance transport of water and nutrients,
such as the xylem and phloem in many plants. To overcome this limitation, some fungi,
such as Armillaria, form rhizomorphs,  which resemble and perform functions similar to
[32]

the roots of plants. As eukaryotes, fungi possess a biosynthetic pathway for

producing terpenes that uses mevalonic acid and pyrophosphate as chemical building
blocks.  Plants and some other organisms have an additional terpene biosynthesis
[33]

pathway in their chloroplasts, a structure fungi and animals do not have.  Fungi produce
[34]

several secondary metabolites that are similar or identical in structure to those made by

plants.  Many of the plant and fungal enzymes that make these compounds differ from
[33]

each other in sequence and other characteristics, which indicates separate origins and
convergent evolution of these enzymes in the fungi and plants. [33][35]

Diversity

Bracket fungi on a tree stump

Fungi have a worldwide distribution, and grow in a wide range of habitats, including
extreme environments such as deserts or areas with high salt
concentrations  or ionizing radiation,  as well as in deep sea sediments.  Some can
[36] [37] [38]

survive the intense UV and cosmic radiation encountered during space travel.  Most [39]

grow in terrestrial environments, though several species live partly or solely in aquatic
habitats, such as the chytrid fungi Batrachochytrium
dendrobatidis and B.  salamandrivorans, parasites that has been responsible for a
worldwide decline in amphibian populations. These organisms spend part of their life
cycle as a motile zoospore, enabling them to propel itself through water and enter their
amphibian host.  Other examples of aquatic fungi include those living
[40]

in hydrothermal areas of the ocean. [41]

As of 2020, around 148,000 species of fungi have been described by taxonomists,  but

[5]

the global biodiversity of the fungus kingdom is not fully understood.  A 2017 estimate
[42]

suggests there may be between 2.2 and 3.8 million species.  The number of new fungi
[4]

species discovered yearly has increased from 1,000 to 1,500 per year about 10 years
ago, to about 2000 with a peak of more than 2,500 species in 2016. In the year 2019,
1882 new species of fungi were described, and it was estimated that more than 90% of
fungi remain unknown.  In mycology, species have historically been distinguished by a
[5]

variety of methods and concepts. Classification based on morphological characteristics,

such as the size and shape of spores or fruiting structures, has traditionally dominated
fungal taxonomy.  Species may also be distinguished by
[43]

their biochemical and physiological characteristics, such as their ability to metabolize

certain biochemicals, or their reaction to chemical tests. The biological species
concept discriminates species based on their ability to mate. The application
of molecular tools, such as DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis, to study
diversity has greatly enhanced the resolution and added robustness to estimates
of genetic d