Explore topic-wise InterviewSolutions in .

In fungi there are asexual and sexual reproduction. Fungi reproduce asexually by fragmentation, gemmation and sporulation. Some species can reproduce sexually by fusion of hyphae from different individuals, even with metagenesis (alternation of generations).

Fungi are heterotrophs and decomposers (they break down dead beings) and they actively participate in the recycling of organic material in ecosystems. Some fungi keep mutualist ecological interaction with algae or cyanobacteria, forming lichen, and with plant roots, forming mycorrhizas. 

Fruiting bodies are structures made of hyphae that project radially from the superior portion of the peduncle of some fungi. These structures contain the reproductive cells of the individual. They form the umbrella-like cap in mushrooms (basidiocarp) or the ascocarp in ascomycetes. 

The kingdom fungi is divided into four phyla: ascomycetes, basidiomycetes, zygomycetes and deuteromycetes.

Mushrooms are basidiomycetes.

All fungi are heterotrophs (so, they do not perform photosynthesis). Fungi are typical decomposers, they eat and degrade organic material.

There are unicellular and pluricellular fungi. All fungi are eukaryotes and heterotrophs.

Fungi have cells with cell wall made of chitin, the same substance that constitutes the exoskeleton of arthropods. Fungi, likewise animals, characterize for storing glucose in the form of its polymer glycogen. 

The main human diseases caused by fungi are coccidioidomycosis, histoplasmosis, blastomycosis, paracoccidioidomycosis, or South American blastomycosis, sporotrichosis, aspergillosis and systemic candidiasis.

Fungi are also responsible for many dermatologic diseases (dermatomycosis) that affect the skin, the nails, the scalp, etc.

On the other hand, many fungi are able to produce antibacterial substances that combat diseases. In the second world war, in German jails, Russian prisoners that accepted to eat moldy bread had less skin infection than those that refused the food. In China, moldy soy sauce has millennial past use against infections. Penicillin, a potent antibiotic, was discovered in 1928 by Alexander Fleming when he observed the antibacterial activity of fungi from the genus Penicillium.

Cyclosporin is a drug discovered in the 1970’s that revolutionized organ transplantation in Medicine. It is a powerful immunosuppressor and so it lessens the immune activity of the receptor and reduces the risk of rejection of the transplanted organ.