Basidiomycota

Outline

Basidiomycota

Introduction

a.k.a. basidiomycetes -- 16,000 spp

3 classes:

• Hymenomycetes (mushrooms, bracket fungi, etc.)
• Gasteromycetes (puffballs, stinkhorns)
• Teliomycetes (smuts & rusts)

Characteristics

sexual spores = basidiospores produced on basidia

fruiting body = basidioma

also make various asexual spores

hyphae are septate

with parenthosomes (except in Teliomycetes)

dikaryotic hyphae make clamp connections

Life cycle (for Hymenomycetes and Gasteromycetes)

1. in haploid (monokaryotic) mycelium, two hyphae fuse
2. plasmogamy, with exended dikaryotic phase
3. dikaryotic mycelium produces basidioma
4. basidia are produced on hymenium of basidioma
5. karyogamy and meiosis take place in basidia, producing 4 haploid nuclei
6. 4 basidiospores made, each on the end of a sterigma
7. basidiospores pop off, wind disperse, and germinate into new monokaryotic hyphae

Diversity

Hymenomycetes (have hymenium on surface of basidioma)

basidium anatomy (pileus, stipe, annulus)

mushrooms, toadstools (hymenium on gills)

boletes, most bracket fungi (hymenium on pores)

Gasteromycetes (have hymenium inside basidioma)

basidium anatomy (gleba)

puffballs, earthstars, stinkhorns, bird's nest fungi

Teliomycetes (produce basidia on a sorus)

rusts and smuts

e.g., Puccinia graminis (black rust of wheat)

Ecological and economic importance

saprobes -- important soil decomposers

parasites/pathogens -- Teliomycetes

mutualists -- mycorrhizae

food...

Vocabulary

click here to go to Basidiomycota vocabulary