Fungal Biology Quiz: Chytridiomycetes

The main group of true fungi, characterized by producing mycelium with glucans and chitin cell walls and lacking chloroplasts.

The Chytridiomycetes, commonly known as chytrids, lack a true mycelium. Their thallus is round or irregular, contains chitin, and lives entirely inside host cells.

Fungal spores enable rapid dispersal and can survive harsh conditions like freezing, starvation, and dehydration for long durations.

A branched network of filaments in fungi, allowing for efficient exploration and exploitation of new environments. They actively penetrate, explore, and exploit solid substrates by secreting digestive enzymes.

Fungal hyphae are strong, waterproof, and chitinous. Their branching growth pattern and digestive enzymes make them ideally suited for exploring and exploiting solid substrates.

Hyphae can multiply rapidly, with their number doubling about every hour. They work efficiently by growing new tips, enabling the fungi to quickly colonize and exploit new environments.

The Chytridiomycota are a phylum of fungi that includes the chytrids.

Fungi exploit new environments by their ability to grow hyphae and secrete digestive enzymes. They efficiently penetrate and utilize solid substrates due to their unique characteristics.

The resting stage of a chytrid fungus, often thick-walled and capable of surviving harsh conditions.

A type of spore with a single, whip-like tail that allows it to swim in water.

A specialized structure produced by some chytrids that releases secondary zoospores, which then infect plants.

A type of chytrid infection where the fungal thallus (body) develops directly within the host cell.

A type of chytrid infection where the fungal thallus develops distinct assimilative rhizoids (root-like structures) and a reproductive sporangium.

A network of rhizoids in chytrids that can support multiple sporangia.

A term referring to a fungal organism, such as a chytrid, that produces only one sporangium.

A fungal disease that causes the rotting of various fruits and vegetables, often manifesting as a white powdery growth.

A type of fungi characterized by the production of basidiospores externally on a club-shaped structure called a basidium.

A group of fungi responsible for various plant diseases, including smuts and rusts. They are characterized by their distinctive spores and specialized parasitic nature.

Fungi in the Order Ustilaginales that infect various plants, causing the formation of black, powdery masses of spores, often referred to as 'smuts'.

Fungi belonging to the Order Uredinales, highly specialized parasites that infect specific plant hosts, causing the formation of reddish-brown or orange-brown lesions or pustules called 'rusts'.

A reproductive strategy observed in some fungi, where the entire thallus (body) is used for reproduction and then disintegrates.

Refers to a fungal thallus that is divided into distinct reproductive and vegetative parts.

A fungal thallus that expands and consists of branching, thread-like structures called hyphae.

A type of reproduction where two gametes of different sizes fuse, with a smaller, more mobile male gamete and a larger, less mobile female gamete.

A thin-walled sporangium that produces diploid mitospores in Allomyces arbusculus, a fungus in the Blastocladiomycota phylum.

A thick-walled and resistant sporangium that can survive for decades in Allomyces arbusculus. It undergoes meiosis to release haploid meiospores.

A group of fungi that are obligate anaerobes, lacking mitochondria and commonly producing multi-flagellated zoospores. They live in the digestive systems of herbivores.

A fungal phylum that was previously considered an order within Chytridiomycota. It features both wide hyphae and narrow rhizoids.

Ascomycetes characterized by perithecia or cleistothecia, often found in stroma, loose hyphal mats, or free.

Order within the Ascomycota, known for containing species like Trichoderma, Gliocladium, and Hypocrea used in biocontrol.

Ascomycetes with ascostromata, producing asci within locules in a stroma.

A fungal order within Ascomycota known for causing anthracnose diseases on plants.

Order within Ascomycota known for containing Ophiostoma novo-ulmi, the causative agent of Dutch elm disease.

Ascomycetes with apothecia, cup-shaped or saucer-shaped ascocarps.

Ascomycetes that produce ascospores in an open, cup-like structure.

Fungi with a dominant asexual (mitosporic) phase, lacking or having rare sexual reproduction.

A fungal disease affecting fleshy fruits like strawberries, peaches, roots, tubers, and bulbs, causing soft rot.

During harvest, handling, and transportation, avoid injuring fruits, roots, tubers, and bulbs to prevent Rhizopus rot.

The phylum containing fungi that form arbuscular mycorrhizas (AM) or endomycorrhizas with plants.

A type of mutualistic symbiosis between fungi and plants where fungi penetrate plant roots and exchange nutrients.

Tree-like structures formed by Glomeromycota fungi inside plant root cells, facilitating nutrient exchange.

Lipid-filled structures produced by some Glomeromycota fungi in plant roots, serving as storage and potential spores.

Glomeromycota fungi help plants access essential nutrients like phosphorus, often limited in soil, thus promoting plant growth.

Because AM fungi mobilize insoluble phosphorus and other nutrients, they are crucial for plant health in many natural habitats and agricultural settings.