Fungus (Meaning and Explanation)

We explain what mushrooms are, their types, how they reproduce and other characteristics. Also, what are parasitic fungi.

What are mushrooms?

The mushrooms are living beings belonging to the fungi kingdom: molds, yeasts and mushrooms. This set of living beings can be considered an intermediate kingdom between plants and animals, from which it was separated more than a million years ago, given that its members lead immobile and insensitive lives like plants, but have heterotrophic nutrition like animals. That is, they consume organic matter to survive.

Fungi were not always fully understood, and until recent times, many things that were considered plants turned out to be fungi, and many that were considered mushrooms turned out to be something else. This is partly due to the fact that the kingdom of fungi presents immense diversity, with polycellular individuals of macroscopic size, and with beings perceptible only through the microscope.

The mushrooms exist in practically all habitats even some underwater, and around 100,000 different species are currently known, of the estimated more than one million total species on planet Earth. Many of them are immensely useful in industry, especially yeasts, both in gastronomy and pharmacology, and many others, however, cause diseases in people and animals.

The branch of biology that studies fungi is mycology.

Characteristics of mushrooms

fungi characteristics lichens — In symbiosis with algae and plants, fungi form lichens.

Fungi constitute an entire kingdom, whose general characteristics can be summarized as follows:

are eukaryotic living beings closer evolutionarily to animals than to plants.
lack mobility and senses like plants, but unlike them they do not have autotrophic nutrition (photosynthesis or chemosynthesis), but rather consume available organic matter (heterotrophic nutrition). But unlike animals, they cannot ingest food, but must absorb it.
Fungal cells have a cell wall (just like plant cells), but instead of being made of cellulose, it is composed of chitin the same substance that many animals use for their covers and shells.
can be unicellular and microscopic, or multicellular and macroscopic depending on the species, and inhabit very different habitats, terrestrial or underwater, or also parasitize the bodies of plants and animals.
They generally occupy a decomposer ecological niche, that is, detritophagous, help break down organic matter of waste.
usually form symbiotic associations with algae and plants thus giving rise to lichens.
serve as food for numerous species of animals, including humans.

reproduction of fungi

mushrooms reproduction — The spores can resist until conditions are conducive to germination.

The mushrooms they reproduce through spores which are forms resistant to the environment capable of lasting, waiting for the moment when the conditions are conducive to germinate. These spores can occur sexually or asexually in organs known as sporangia, and are released into the environment, where wind, water and other environmental factors contribute to dispersing them.

Types of mushrooms

The classification of fungi has varied greatly over time, as more and better is known about these peculiar living beings. In general, the following five major types of fungi are differentiated:

Basidiomycetes (Basidiomycota), fungi that develop mushrooms, from which the spores of the fungus are born.
Ascomycetes (Ascomycota), fungi that instead of mushrooms have asci, which are sexual cells that produce spores.
Glomeromycetes (Glomeromycota), known as mycorrhizae, that is, symbiotic unions between a fungus and the roots of a plant, in which water and nutrients are exchanged for carbohydrates that the fungus cannot synthesize.
Zygomycetes (Zygomycota), molds capable of forming zygospores, that is, spores that remain active for a long time until they can finally germinate.
Chytridiomycetes (Chytridiomycota), microscopic and primitive fungi, generally aquatic, whose spores are flagellated (zoospores), that is, capable of self-movement.

parasitic fungi

Mushrooms are not only capable of defending themselves through poisons and toxins (some of them hallucinogenic), capable of causing damage or death in animals that ingest them, but also are possible causes of diseases especially yeasts and other microscopic fungi.

These fungal conditions The vast majority are treatable, and in some cases they are transmissible as is the case of Candida albicans (responsible for sexually transmitted candidiasis). Another common case is the so-called “athlete's foot” (tinea pedis) that lodges in the skin, as a result of continuous humidity conditions, as a result of sweating. For these types of conditions there are antifungal medications.

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