kingdom fungi

The biology is a science that is responsible for studying the different ways of life and how they behave , the evolution and all the processes that play throughout life. Being such an extensive science, it has been divided into branches or kingdoms for its proper study. One of these branches is the Fungi kingdom which is made up of more than 145,000 species of fungi which have common characteristics in terms of mobility and heterotrophic feeding.

What does it consist of

The Fungi kingdom consists of a biological group made up of the different types of fungi that exist on Earth, which can be unicellular or multicellular and which are also quite complex. It is common to find them in any type of habitat , however, it is more common to find them living on land. It is a fairly diverse group that includes yeasts , molds, and mushrooms .

Characteristics of the Fungi kingdom

Among its main features are the following:

• Fungi are eukaryotic , in other words, they have a nucleus and membranous systems.
• They have a cell wall but do not have chlorophyll, instead they contain chitin .
• Most of them are multicellular although some exceptions to the rule can be found.
• They cannot move and that is why they maintain a single position in the place where they place their roots.
• They are heterotrophic beings, this means that they produce their own food.
• They can obtain energy from organic matter that is in the process of decomposition .
• They have hyphae and mycelia .
• They live best in humid environments .

Source

Its origin is quite old and the evidence indicates that they appeared during the Devonian period , 420 million years ago. By not having an exact fossil record of fungi, different biochemical characters have been used to establish the possible evolutionary routes of the same. In the middle of the 20th century, fungi were located within the plant kingdom but later it was divided, mainly due to the way they feed, thus giving rise to the term Fungi as one of the multicellular eukaryotic kingdoms.

Evolution

It is believed that fungi in ancient times lived mainly in water and that they were also only single- celled organisms that fed on decaying matter . They began to colonize parts of the earth at least 450 million years ago, around the same time that plants did. There are many rock fossils that have fungal remains on their surfaces and experts believe that they may even have been the predominant form of life on Earth millions of years ago.

Classification

The classification made by the experts of the Fungi kingdom is as follows:

• Basidiomycete fungi : this type of fungus has the ability to develop mushrooms through which the spores that are responsible for reproducing the fungus are born.
• Ascomycete fungi : these do not have mushrooms but have structures called asci that function as a type of sex cell that has the ability to produce spores.
• Glomeromycetes fungi : they are symbiotic unions that occur between a fungus and the root of a certain plant to share water, nutrients and carbohydrates in this way.
• Zygomycete fungi : it has the ability to form spores that can withstand very adverse conditions over time.
• Chytridiomycete fungi : they are microscopic and are considered primitive. They can generally be found in water and their means of reproduction is by zoospores.

Habitat

The main habitats of fungi are places where there is abundant humidity and in places where it may be possible to find large amounts of organic matter that is in a state of decomposition . Their habitat is also characterized by being lacking in light , they can live in aquatic places and some of them can even inhabit the internal part of other organisms , thus parasitizing them.

Nutrition

To talk about the nutrition of fungi, it is important to remember that they are heterotrophic beings , which means that they cannot synthesize the food they eat from sunlight and carbon dioxide. Its main source for energy is from carbohydrates and protein breakdown . Some fungi, acting as a type of parasite , can acquire their nutrition from the host’s tissues , for this reason, they can also be harmful.

There are also fungi that can establish symbiotic relationships with plants to obtain in this way different types of nutrients and at the same time providing some benefits. Finally, many of them are decomposers , this means that they will obtain their food from matter that is in decomposition, absorbing it through their hyphae.

Reproduction

The type of reproduction of the Fungi kingdom is based on the formation and subsequent dispersal of spores , which have a high latency period , and thanks to this, they can survive for a long time even under adverse conditions to germinate at certain times . Fungi have the great capacity to also produce spores sexually (through meiosis ) or asexually (through mitosis ).

Breathing

The respiration of the fungi can vary a little depending on the type it is, it is important to remember that there are molds, mushrooms and yeasts. In the case of yeasts , they breathe oxygen anaerobically , however, they can also live without it. The molds and fungi are multicellular and have a type of aerobic respiration allowing it to derive energy from organic molecules using oxygen directly from the air .

Cell types of the Fungi kingdom

The cells that can be found in the Fungi kingdom are of the eukaryotic type , which means that they have a well-defined nucleus and that they also contain a cell wall of rigid consistency, which in fact is quite similar to that of a plant cell. however, they do not contain any type of cellulose and instead of it they have chitin , a substance that gives it hardness. They are generally cells that are characterized by being elongated and sometimes having several nuclei.  In addition, they do not have chloroplasts , which is why they can not carry out the photosynthesis process .

Fungi Kingdom Domain

Its domain belongs to the Eukarya , which is characterized by having eukaryotic cells , by having its genetic material isolated thanks to a cell membrane and by containing different cellular structures that are quite complex, which are known by the name of cellular organelles. .

Examples

Some examples from the Fungi kingdom are:

• Brewer’s yeast (Saccharomyces cervisiae)
• Penicillium Roqueforti (cheese making)
• Pine mushroom (suillus luteus)
• Penicillium chrysogenum (penicillin)
• Athlete’s foot fungus (Trichophytonrubrum)
• The mushroom mushroom (Agaricusbisporus)

Importance

Some of the fungi that exist in the Fungi kingdom are very important because they make a great contribution, for example to the field of medicine , mainly to combat infections and some types of diseases, this is the case, for example, of the penicilium genus from where penicillin was extracted . Many of them are also part of the human diet as they provide very good amounts of vitamins and proteins. Some are also used by large companies within the food industry as they help to conserve some types of substances.