My learning for the day...Rhizopuz...

A familiar member of the division is Rhizopus stolonifer, a fungus found on fruits, vegetables, and breads. It is the familiar bread mold. It anchors itself to the substratum with special hyphae known as rhizoids. Rhizopus is used in the industrial production of steroids, meat tenderizers, industrial chemicals, and certain coloring agents.

Division Ascomycota. Members of the division Ascomycota are referred to as ascomycetes. After sexual fusion of cells has taken place, these organisms form their sexual spores within a sac called an ascus. Therefore, they are called sac fungi.

Ascomycetes include the powdery mildews and the fungi that cause Dutch elm disease and chestnut blight disease. The research organism Neurospora crassa is found within this group. Asexual reproduction in the ascomycetes involves conidia.

Many yeasts are classified in the division Ascomycota. Of particular interest is the fermentation yeast Saccharomyces. This yeast is used in the production of alcoholic drinks, in bread making, and as a source of growth factors in yeast tablets. It is an extremely important research organism as well.

Division Basidiomycota. Members of the division Basidiomycota are referred to as basidiomycetes and are called club fungi. After the sexual cells have united, they undergo division and produce a clubshaped structure called a basidium. Sexually produced basidiospores form at the tips of the basidia. Basidia are often found on huge, visible, fruiting bodies called basidiocarps. The typical mushroom is a basidiocarp.

Basidiomycetes are used as food (for example, mushrooms), but some basidiomycetes are pathogens. One of the organisms of meningitis is the basidiomycete Cryptococcus neoformans. The mushroom Amanita is poisonous to humans.

Division Deuteromycota. Members of the Deuteromycota division are called deuteromycetes. These fungi lack a known sexual cycle of reproduction and are said to be “imperfect.” When its sexual cycle is discovered, a fungus from this division is usually reclassified in one of the other divisions. Among the imperfect fungi are the organisms of athlete's foot and ringworm.


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