Microfungi, Protistans, Mycophyta, Myceteae, Osmophilic, Mycologists, Biosphere, Unequivocal, Mycologists, Unequivocal Definition, Absorptive Nutrition

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Your Ad Here	Microfungi Earlier, the fungi were thought to be plants and then as protistans but Whittaker (1969) in his five kingdom system separated them from protistans and created a new kingdom, namely, Mycophyta/ Fungi (Myceteae) to accommodate them on the basis of their very distinct mode of nutrition completely absorptive (osmophilic) - not found elsewhere in the biosphere. To define the exact limits of fungi is virtually very difficult. Even the mycologists have no unequivocal definition of 'fungus' to offer. The more we study the living organisms the more meaningless our attempts become to delimit any particular group. However, at present, the term fungi is considered to represent the organisms that are Eukaryotic, achlorophyllous with unique absorptive nutrition, spore-bearing and reproducing usually asexually and sexually.
Their usually filamentous, branched vegetative structures are typically surrounded by cell walls made up of chitin or cellulose or both substances together with many other complex organic molecules. The fungi are clearly delineated from the plants and other autotrophs because the vegetative body or thallus of the fungus, even when it forms tissues, is never differentiated into root and shoot and, most important of all, has no specialised vessels for internal transport of nutrients. But they are different from the animals in many ways. They are eukaryotic organisms and, in contrast to monerans (prokaryotes; archaebacteria, bacteria and cyanobacteria), they have true nuclei surrounded by nuclear membrane and containing chromosomes.
The fungi are chemoorganotrophic organisms, having no chlorophylls and performing no function like photosynthesis. They cannot use carbon dioxide as their carbon source and are dependent on external sources for organic carbon. Whether the fungi represent a single phylum of organisms with a common ancestors is matter of debate among students for their phylogeny and classification. They range from very simple, short-lived, unicellular structures. whose single cell becomes the organ of reproduction to massive perennial mycelia giving rise to great frutification as in some of the puffballs, pore fungi etc. Except for the lack of chlorophyll and the saprophytic or parasitic mode of life, these two extremes have no single character in common: manner of reproduction, structure of vegetative body, chemical composition of cell wall etc.	Your Ad Here
The extreme simplicity of one type of fungus might be considered to indicate a low position in evolutionary hierarchy, great primitiveness, but on the other hand it might be the result of a great degree of simplification from a much more complex organization. The lack of any good fossil of these lower fungi prevents us from obtaining direct evidence in this matter.

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Microfungi What is Mycology What is Moulds Vegetative Structure of Moulds Reproduction of Moulds Physiological Characteristics of Moulds Microbiologically Important Moulds Yeasts Vegetative Organization of yeasts Reproduction-of-yeasts Microbiologically Important Yeasts Fungal Plant Diseases Human and Animal Fungal Diseases Microalgae Algal Divisions Containing Microalgae Microbiologically Important Micro-Algae

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