Fungi Molds Sir Alexander Fleming

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Kingdom Fungi
By Annie C. Cloutier 2013
for classroom and global learning
copyright 2013

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Many different fungi

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Decomposers the work of a fungi is to break down organic and
inorganic matter into soil, and nutrients for other plant life.
• Hyphae or masses of hyphae
(fungal threads) are called the
mycelium
• Saprobes organisms that live
off dead organic matter
• most fungi are filamentous
• Scientists are debating if some
fungi originate from protozoa
since they have a flagellum *these
are found in the animal kingdom)
• Zygotes get converted into a
resting spore in chytrid
reproduction.
• A scientist who studies mushrooms is called
a mycologist
• Zygote nuclei undergo meiosis (cell
division where number of chromosomes is
halved-genes of two parents to be combined)
• Fungi and be found on the North
Pole to desert climates

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Asexual or sexual reproduction ?
• Budding
• Asexual reproduction condia
• Are spores that are
produced outside the
sporangium
• Happens at the tip of the
hyphae called a
conidiophore
• Asci
• Tiny finger like sacs form
• Where the hyphae of two
different sexes become
closely associated in the
more complex sac fungi
• Male antheridia
• Female ascogonia produce
on the same mycelium

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Ascoma of a sac fungi

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http://biology.unm.edu/ccouncil/Biology_203/Summaries/Fungi.htm
check out this site for more detailed information

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Shelf or Bracket Fungi
called club fungi because they reproduce sexually producing spores at the tip (basidia) of
with swollen hyphae that resemble “clubs”

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Images by Paul Stamets
“6 ways Mushrooms Can Save the World”
http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_can_sa

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Puff Ball fungi

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Earth Star fungi

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Is it safe to eat moldy bread ?
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/molds_on_food/#13
Better eat some garlic…its anti-fungal

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Blue Cheese dark colors are conidia of
a species of Penicillium
• What exactly is blue
cheese?
• Blue cheese is typically made
from cow, sheep or goat milk
injected with Penicillium
cultures that gives it the blue
color speckled throughout its
white body.
Yes, those blue spots are a
type of mold, but it is good
mold! It can do no harm to you
and it makes for an ultra tasty
product.

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Penicillium discovery one of the best known medical antibiotics
Sir Alexander Fleming 1929
• He discovered that
certain bacterium would
not grow next to the
mycelium of a
penicillium mold (fungi)
• World War 2 the need
for antibiotics to prevent
soldier’s wounds from
getting infected
• Moldy trash was sent to
scientist found that
cantaloupes made 80%
greater quantities of
penicillin
• Other Soil fungi have been
introduced to fight other
bacterial infections

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Nature has many solutions for us to discover.
Plants are to be cherished.

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Mushroom Fairy Rings
found in forest and lawns
• Depending on the species of fungus involved
and how long it has been growing, the rings
may be only a few centimeters to 20 meters
(about 65 feet) in diameter. The diameter of
some fairy rings may increase by about 20 cm
(8 inches) each year. The largest known fairy
ring was discovered in France - it is about half
of a mile wide and is estimated to be about 700
years old! When mushrooms are not present,
less obvious rings of taller, greener grass may
indicate the presence of a fairy ring in lawns.
These are caused by fungal activity releasing
nitrogen, which fertilizes the ground and, for a
short time, stimulates growth of grass. A ring of
dead grass also may appear inside the lush
ring due to the fungal mycelia becoming so
dense that water cannot penetrate into the
ground. The lack of water, coupled with the
depletion of nutrients as they are taken up by
the fungus, causes the grass to die. Grass in
the center of a larger ring may re-grow as the
fungal mycelia in that area die and allow water
to penetrate the soil, and nutrients are released
from the dead mycelia

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Fairy Ring Myths