About Lesson
General characteristics
- Have rigid cell walls made of chitin.
- Store carbohydrates in form of glycogen.
- Body made of hyphae.
Hyphae collectively form a dense network of filaments called mycelium
- Some are unicellular (e.g. yeast), multicellular or filamentous (e.g. Penicillia, bread moulds, mushrooms and toadstools).
- Are heterotrophic i.e. feed on already manufactured food.
Saprophytically through sending rhizoids into dead tissues (substratum), e.g. bread moulds (Rhizopus).
Parasitically through sending haustoria into live tissues of plants e.g. leaf rusts, blights and ringworms.
- Reproduce both asexually and sexually.
Asexually through spore formation (e.g. Rhizopus) and budding (e.g. yeast)
Sexually through fusion of nuclei in the branches of the hyphae.
- Inhabit damp and moist surfaces or in tissues of plants and animals.
- Have varied body forms.
Filamentous type have cell walls enclosing cytoplasm with many nuclei hence forming dense hyphae.
Hyphae collectively form a dense network of filaments called mycelium.
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