The variety of fungi is huge, comprising mushrooms, molds, yeasts, and mycoses-causing organisms.

Characteristics of fungi

• All fungi are eukaryotes.

• They can be unicellular (such as yeasts) or pluricellular (as mushrooms).

• Fungal cells have a reserve consisting of glycogen (animal cells, such as muscle and liver cells, also accumulate glycogen).

• The cell wall consists of chitin (also present in the arthropod exoskeleton).

• Fungi are achlorophyllous and do not perform photosynthesis or chemosynthesis.

• All are tropes, and many of them behave like parasites; numerous act as decomposers.

Pluricellular fungi

• On pluricellular fungus, filaments, called hyphae, consist the organism.

• The hyphae set forms mycelium.

• It can be vegetative (responsible for nutrition) or reproductive (responsible for reproduction).

Hyphae

• Fungal hyphae may present separation with transverse walls, called septa. In this case, they are septated hyphae.

• In certain fungi, such as black bread mold, hyphae do not have septa; Known as coenocytic hyphae; its interior is occupied by protoplasm (living matter).

• Hyphae are immersed in the substrate used by the fungus, which develops in places with abundant availability of water and organic matter, such as manure, wood, and fruits, or the body of eventual hosts.

Digestion

• Fungi perform extracorporeal digestion, detaching digestive enzymes for the environment- where this process happens.

• Digestion products are absorbed and employed in your metabolism. Reproductive mycelium

• When reproductive mycelium develops on the substrate, many hyphae emerge, constituting the structure known as the fruiting body. Mushroom

• The fruiting body, here, is the visible part of its organism, formed by a rod and a hat.

• -There are plates called lamellae, under the hat, on whose sides are formed tiny sporangia.

• Sporangia are spore-producing structures.

• Mushroom spores are reproductive cells. When carried by the wind, they disperse throughout the environment.

• If the spore falls on a suitable substrate, it will absorb water and start the formation of new hyphae.

• The reproduction of mushrooms is sexual and occurs when compatible hyphae come together, forming a new mushroom.

Yeasts, reproduction

• Yeast reproduction can occur through spores. And also by a budding process (Asexual reproduction), in which an individual generates an identical organism, which can stand out and form an independent organism.

Importance of fungi

There are four main aspects of the importance of fungi: food, industrial, ecological, and medical (related to diseases they can cause).

Food importance

• There are several edible mushrooms, such as champignon, shiitake, and truffle.

• However, some mushrooms are poisonous, and others are hallucinogens.

Industrial importance

• Certain fungi are used in the production of antibiotics, such as mold of the genus Penicillium, which produces penicillin.

• Antibiotics are used in the treatment of bacterial diseases.

• Due to their fermentative activity, yeasts are used in the production of alcohol and bread.

• The well-known brewer's yeast is a fungus of the genus Saccharomyces.

Ecological importance

• Many fungi act as decomposers, degrading dead organic matter and contributing to the recycling of matter in nature.

• Some fungi participate in mutualism associations, such as mycorrhizas.

• Mycorrhicorzas are made up of fungi associated with the roots of numerous plant species; fungi absorb water and nutrients from the soil and transfer them to the roots- providing them with organic food.

• Thus, mycorrhizas potentiate the absorption capacity of water and nutrients of plants.

Pathological importance

• Some fungi cause diseases in humans, generically called mycoses.

• Some mycoses reach different parts of the body, such as skin, nails, hair, lungs, central nervous system, and genitals.