Introducing the fungi!

Until fairly recently the fungi were considered a primitive, even ‘Cinderella’, group of plants. The boundaries of the group did not seem to be entirely clear, with some seeming to possess characters of simple animals, such as amoebae. The fungi turn out to be a huge group of diverse organisms brought together by the fact that they do not manufacture their food by photosynthesis or ingest their food so being quite distinct from both plants and animals. Despite the past uncertainties we have nevertheless relied on them over millennia for many familiar foods, drinks and chemical products, including important pharmaceuticals. Fungi also underpin the process of nutrient cycling through rotting down plant and animal remains and making simple, easily used compounds available to other organisms.

Over 85% of vascular plants are tied to associations with fungi, the latter assisting in scavenging essential nutrients, helping their host plants to overcome competitors, and even protecting them from disease organisms. In spite of the ubiquity and importance of fungi, however, they remain little known to many people, with their beneficial activities being poorly appreciated. But perhaps this is not surprising, considering they are a largely invisible group of organisms. The reality is that human cultures would not be the same.

There are estimated to be around 1.5 million species of fungi in the world. This enormous diversity makes fungi one of the largest groups of organisms known, dwarfing our own group, the mammals, which numbers a mere 4,260 species. We probably know all but a few of the mammals, but surprisingly less than 10% of the fungi. This discrepancy in knowledge is easily explained: mammals, in addition to being less numerous, tend to be large and conspicuous; fungi, in contrast, are often hidden from view for all or part of their lives.

A major reason why fungi remain largely hidden is that by far the majority are microscopic. We only become aware of their presence when our food goes mouldy, or we stop to think of the countless everyday products that require fungi in some way. Even those fungi which do produce visible structures, such as mushrooms, toadstools and brackets, remain hidden from view for all or much of their lives. They are essentially oversized ‘microorganisms’, as their life cycles are the same as the microscopic species. The visible parts are usually the fruit bodies produced for reproductive purposes. In a few cases these can be of giant proportions. However, these are really exceptions, as in nearly all major ecosystems most fungi are to be found well out of human sight.

One of the most successful fungal associations worldwide — found from sea level (even in the sea) to the highest peaks and from the cold deserts to the tropics — is the lichens. Once thought to be independent organisms in their own right they are in fact an intimate relationship between one or more algae (or cyanobacteria) and a fungus. Lichens form the familiar colourful blotches on rocks, gravestones and tree trunks. Indeed, lichens may have been the primary source of oxygen on Earth. Traditionally the fungi were divided into five major groups, based on the structure of their reproductive organs and whether sexual spores were formed or not. Following research over the last 25 years this approach has changed dramatically, resulting in a whole range of separately defined groupings. However, two major groups defined in the old texts are still prominent in the classification and encompass the fungi likely to be encountered by the field mycologist.

The first group, which includes the familiar mushrooms, toadstools and brackets, is characterised by the reproductive process coming to fruition in the production of four and sometimes more spores on the apex of projections arising from a single cell termed a basdium (a spore is equivalent to a seed in a flowering plant). Hence these fungi are termed basidiomycetes and are exemplified by the cultivated mushroom. In some species, perhaps more distantly related, this cell is divided, either transversely or longitudinally. A good example of the former is the jelly fungus witches’ Butter and of the latter Judas’ ear fungus and the rust-fungi which can devastate cereal crops.

The second group is sometimes referred to as the elf-cups and relatives, and have a rather different spore-bearing structure. The spores, generally numbering eight (though there may be multiples of this number), are produced in a sac. In some species the sac is thick-walled or resembles a ‘party popper’, ejecting the spores with great force after the inner wall has become deformed by pressure. The group is divided further through different shapes and structures of the sac. The ascomycetes, as these fungi are known, derive their name from this sac, or ascus. Included in this group are the truffles, morels, powdery mildews and elf-cups. Both these groups contain species which are known to have reduced their morphology to such an extent that they really only consist of egg-shaped cells. These are the yeasts, and they may be of ascomycete or basidiomycete ori9in. Thus even in a single group there can be enormous diversity of form. It is little wonder that the fungi have been so hard to understand. Many ascomycetes and basidiomycetes have lost the ability to produce their characteristic sexual structures, or do so rarely. Instead they produced many different kinds of asexual spores, varying in structure, colour and ornamentation. In the past the asexual fungi were classified together as the Fungi Imperfecti, but this grouping is now recognised as being quite artificial. Recent work has helped to clarify the relationships of several smaller groups that have very simplified external form and consist of little more than aggregations of filaments or cells, which at most form swellings full of spores. Despite their simple form, their chemistry and cell components are very diverse because during their evolution they have exploited so many different habitats. They are generally microscopic, but the common pin mould is an example of one that produces a visible structure. Some microscopic species are motile at some stage of their lives, and have small filaments which act as propellers. whilst others superficially similar are now known not to be fungi and are considered to be related to algae. They have lost the ability to make food using sunlight and now have a fungs-like lifestyle.

Another group that were traditionally regarded as fungi, but are now known not to be, are the slime moulds. Reports of white or yellow mucus climbing over vegetation represent sightings of the mobile stage of slime moulds. when mature they dry out and produce masses of powdery spores which cling to objects Fungi that produce obvious fruiting bodies (mushrooms and toadstools) are primarily composed of filaments that grow in the soil or organic matter spreading over an ever widening area. These filaments are termed hyphae and when bunched together they form what is called a mycelium. The filaments are hard to see but the mycelia take on a distinct pattern - for example the dreaded and distinctive mycelia of the