I. Fascinating Facts.
    A. In 1722 a rye fungus stopped Peter the Great’s invasion of Turkey. 100 horses were paralyzed and 20,000 people died.
    B. Potato famine in Ireland. 1845-47 1 million people starved. By 1855 the population had dropped from 8 million to 4 million.
    C. Fungi make cheeses: Swiss, cheddar, blue.
    D. Yeast leavens bread.
    E. Penicillin comes from bread mold.

II. Definition: Multicellular heterotrophic eukaryotes.

III. Characteristics.
    A. Absorb food through cell walls.
    B. Rigid cell walls of cellulose or chitin (nitrogen glucose amine polymer).
    C. Sessile (non-motile).
    D. Lack true tissues and organs.

IV. Nutrition.
    A. Saprophytes: dead organic matter.
        1. External digestion.
    B. Parasites: living bodies of other organisms.
        1. Consume pre-digested food.

V. Life cycle.
    A. Spore.
    B. Hypha.
        1. Rhizoids.
            a. Embedded in base material
            b. Support fungus and absorb food.
        2. Aerial hyphae.
            a. Absorb oxygen and produce spores.
            b. Stolons: produce new filaments.
            c. Sporophores: produce spores.
        3. Haustoria: parasitic hyphae which enter host’s cells to get food directly from the cytoplasm.
    C. Mycelium: mass of intertwined hyphae.
        1. Coenocytic: multinucleate hyphae.
        2. Septate: divisions in hyphae.

VI.  Genetic Terms.
    A. Haploid: possessing one set of genes. Fungi are haploid.
    B. Diploid: possessing two sets of genes. Most plants are diploid.

VII. Reproduction.
    A. Vegetative (asexual).
        1. Fragmentation.
        2. Spores.
            a. Sporophore forms.
            b. Spores are produced by cell division.
    B. Sexual.
        1. Type A.
            a. Hyphae of two different mycelia contact and fuse.
            b. Diploid zygospore is formed.
            c. Meiosis produces a new haploid mycelium.
        2. Type B.
            a. Hyphae of two different mycelia contact and fuse.
            b. Diploid hyphae grow into a new mycelium called a fruiting body.
            c. The fruiting body produces spores.

VIII. Lichens.
    A. Symbiotes of fungus and blue-green algae or green algae.
    B. Environments: rocks, tree trunks, tundra.
    C. Reproduction
        1. Fragmentation.
        2. Fungus produces spores, which must quickly find and algae to parasitize.

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