Characteristics of Fungi

The plural of fungus is "fungi" and it is one of the five kingdoms of organisms. Fungi as a kingdom are grouped into four major subgroups and they are imperfect fungi, sac fungi, club fungi and conjugating fungi. Are you aware molds, yeasts, mildew and mushrooms also belong to the kingdom fungi. There are over 200,000 species of fungi. However only 100,000 have been identified. The study of fungi is known as mycology.

Characteristics of Fungi

Some of the characteristics of fungi are:

• The non-motile cells belong to the kingdom Fungi.
• The cell walls of these non-motile cells are made of chitin.
• Fungi are heterotrophic organisms. The only difference between other heterotrophic animals and fungi is that fungi digest and then ingest the food. Fungi releases enzymes on the body of the other living things and thrive on them.
• There is no embryonic stage for fungi. A fungus develops from spores, and are both sexual and asexual.
• Though most of the fungi are single cellular, most of the fungi species grow as multi-cellular filaments called hyphae. The hyphae form a mycelium.
• An interesting characteristic of fungi is that like a plant, fungi too have an alternation of generations.
• The cytoplasmic ultrastructure of fungi is similar to plant cells. However, they differ significantly in their structures and their organelles.
• The fungi store their food in the form of glycogen.
• The cell membrane of a fungus has a unique sterol and ergosterol.
• Many of the fungi have a small nuclei with repetitive DNA.
• Mitosis takes place without dissolution of the nuclear envelop.

Remember, fungus is not dependent on light and can grow in any direction. They have the ability to invade the interior of a substrate with absorptive filaments. Some argue that a fungus belongs to the animal kingdom, while there are some who think fungi should belong to plants. However, the recent molecular evidence suggests fungi are closely related to animals than to the plants.