Fungus
Mycology · Microbiology · Ecology
Say it: FUNG-gus
A fungus is a eukaryote, such as a yeast, mold or mushroom, that has chitin in its cell walls and feeds by absorbing nutrients from its surroundings.
Also: fungi, funguses
Definition
What is a fungus?
A fungus is a member of the kingdom Fungi, a large group of eukaryotes that includes single-celled yeasts, thread-forming molds and mushrooms. Fungi cannot photosynthesize. Their cell walls are built from chitin, the same tough polymer found in insect exoskeletons, and their membranes contain ergosterol where animal cells use cholesterol. Comparisons of DNA place fungi nearer to animals than to plants on the tree of life.
Fungi feed by absorption: they release digestive enzymes into their surroundings and then take up the small molecules that result. Most are decomposers that recycle dead plant and animal matter, and they are among the few organisms able to break down lignin, the tough material in wood. Others live in partnership with plants as mycorrhizae, or as parasites of plants, animals and people. Many fungi grow as networks of fine threads called hyphae, and almost all of them spread by releasing spores.
Fungi touch human life in many ways. Yeasts raise bread and ferment beer and wine, molds supply penicillin and ripen blue cheeses, and a minority of species cause infections, from athlete's foot and thrush to serious lung disease in people with weakened immune systems.
Word parts
Where does the word “fungus” come from?
- fungus
- mushroomLatin fungus
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Terms that go with it
- YeastA yeast is a single-celled fungus that usually reproduces by budding; baker's yeast ferments sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
- HyphaA hypha is one of the long, branching threads that make up the body of most fungi; a tangled mass of hyphae forms a mycelium.
- SporeA spore is a small, hardy reproductive cell made by fungi, plants and some microbes that can spread widely and grow into a new organism on its own.
- MycorrhizaA mycorrhiza is a mutually beneficial partnership between a fungus and plant roots, trading water and soil minerals for sugars made by the plant.
- DecomposerA decomposer is an organism, mainly a bacterium or fungus, that breaks down dead organisms and wastes and returns their nutrients to the environment.
- EukaryoteA eukaryote is an organism whose cells keep their DNA inside a membrane-bound nucleus and contain other membrane-bound organelles.
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