Slime Molds, Fungi, and Multicellularity Vocabulary

Flashcards covering vocabulary terms about slime molds, fungi, and multicellularity.

Fungi

A unicellular or multicellular organism that is a heterotroph and absorbs nutrients by secreting digestive enzymes into the environment.

Mycelium

A branched network of cells attached to each other, forming the multicellular body of a fungus.

Absorptive Heterotrophy

The process by which fungi secrete digestive enzymes into the environment and absorb the nutrients.

Fruiting Body

A structure that helps disperse reproductive cells, such as spores, in fungi.

Hyphae

Filamentous structures in fungi that make up the mycelium.

Lignin

A molecule found in wood that provides tensile strength and is difficult to break down, broken down by fungi.

Mycorrhizae

Soil fungi that wrap around the roots of plants and help them absorb water and nutrients.

Slug

A structure called a pseudoplasmodium that is the 'slug' in the cellular slime mold.

Myxamoebas

The haploid solitary cells that act as mobile feeding cells or fuse to start the sexual cycle of cellular slime molds.

Chitreds

A life cycle that does alternation of generations with multicellular diploid and haploid stages.

Cheater Cell

An environmental condition where cells don't follow developmental plans and cheat to reproduce.

Choanoflagellates

A group of organisms that are sister taxa to the animals.

Multicellularity

The process in which cells become differentiated and dependent on each other for survival.