Deuteromycota: The Imperfect Fungi

Deuteromycota: The Imperfect Fungi

What are deuteromycetes?

Phylum Deuteromycota is a polyphyletic group of asexually-reproducing fungi that do not display a sexual phase; they are known as imperfect.

- approximately 17,000 species;

- mostly saprobes, but some are parasitic on plants and animals, including man;

- most live on land; they form visible mycelia with a fuzzy appearance called mold;

- the closest group to the deuteromycetes is the ascomycetes.

Why Deuteromycota are classified as fungi?

References:

2 main reasons:

First, their multicellular tissue is similar to the hyphae of sac fungi and club fungi;

Second, they have erect hyphae with asexual spores, called conidiophores, which are similar to those of the sac fungi and club fungi.

https://www.boundless.com/biology/textbooks/boundless-biology-textbook/fungi-24/classifications-of-fungi-150/deuteromycota-the-imperfect-fungi-596-11815/

Video

Content:

Impact of deuteromycetes.

Reproduction

They reproduce asexually by means of conidia (sing. = conidium). A conidium is an asexual spore that is not produced in a sporangium

1. Introduction. What is deuteromycota?

2. Classifications.

3. Structure.

4. Reproduction.

Imperfect fungi have a large impact on everyday human life:

* The food industry relies on them for ripening some cheeses;

* The blue veins in Roquefort cheese and the white crust on Camembert are the result of fungal growth;

* The antibiotic penicillin was originally discovered on an overgrown Petri plate on which a colony of Penicillium fungi killed the bacterial growth surrounding it.

Many imperfect fungi cause serious diseases, either directly as parasites (which infect both plants and humans), or as producers of potent toxic compounds, as seen in the aflatoxins released by fungi of the genus Aspergillus.

Trichophyton interdigidale

* a.k.a. Athlete's Foot;

* They live on the bottom of people's feet thrives because of the warm moist skin caused by wearing socks and shoes all the time in our current society;

* This type of fungi grows faster because of lack of ventilation to the feet.

Structure

Main Orders

There are four orders in phylum Deuteromycota:

* Moniliales

* Sphaeropsidales

* Melanconiales

* Mycelia Sterlia.

Moniliales

In order Moniliales, conidia and conidiophores are produced in mycelium, i.e. pycnidium or acervulus.

Conidiophores of Ulocladium

Conidia of Alternaria tenuis are borne in chains

Sphaeropsidales

Those species in which the conidia and condiophore are borne in a pycnidium, a sporulating structure that may be variously shaped: flask-shaped, cup-shaped, ball-shaped that may be entirely closed, with or without stroma, etc.

Entomosporium sp. Sphaeropsidales

Melanconiales

Those species in which the conidia and conidiophores are borne in an acervulus, a flat to cushioned shaped stroma on which conidia and conidiophores are borne. On host plants, the stroma with the conidia and conidiophores normally break the epidermal surface of the leaf as they emerge from the host.

Mycelia Sterilis

Those species that are entirely sterile, i.e. without conidia and conidiophores. These species are normally classified according to characteristics of mycelial structures or sclerotial characteristics.

Sclerotium rolfsii, sclerotial forming Mycelia Sterilia.

Rhizoctonia solani, Hyphal cells branch at right angles, narrow at base of branch and septum forming immediately after branch

Acervulus of unknown fungus, Melanconiales

BT 15-10(K)

AIGALI NARGIZA