Fungal Biology

• Other Authors: Roksana Khalid (Editor)
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: Canada DELVE PUBLISHING 2018
• Subjects: Fungi; Mycology
• Online Access: Click Here to View Status and Holdings.

 Fungi is a diverse kingdom comprising a vast range of eukaryotic organisms. It has some similar and different characters to both animals and plants. Therefore it was not easy to recognize where they should be classified in among living things. Because of a few important characteristics, fungi were separated from different eukaryotic systems of plants and animals. It was different from Protista, bacteria and plants due to presence of chitin in their cell wall. They are similar to animals because they are heterotrophs, they secrete enzymes in the environment that causes breakdown of food and converts them into dissolved food particles which the fungus absorbs. Fungi are major decomposers in their ecosystem. All these and some other differences urge to place fungi in a separate kingdom which is known as Eumycota (True Fungi). In biology the discipline which deals with fungus is known as mycology. It was in past considered as branch of botany, but recently due to progress in modern genetics it has proved that fungi is closer to animals than plants.