Unikonts:
Fungi & Slime Molds
Fungi & Slime Molds
Single flagellum is visible (uni-kont means one flagellum)
Feature still present in ancient fungi, but lost in derived forms
Amoeba-like or algal-like with no flagella in derived fungi
Possibly 1.2 billion year ago
Unikonta - single-flagellum organisms
├Amoebozoa: Amoeba-like organisms
└Slime molds (Mycetozoa)
└Opisthokonta: Fungi and Animals
├Chytrids (Chytridiomycota): Aquatic fungi
├Sugar molds (Zygomycota): Bread molds
├Club fungi (Basidiomycota): Mushrooms, Toadstools, Shelf fungi, etc.
└Sac fungi (Ascomycota): Morels, Truffles
Fungal forms (Incertae Sedis)
Lichens
Yeasts
Conidial Fungi
Mycorrhizae
What are some common plant diseases caused by chytrids?
What do the terms monokaryotic and dikaryotic mean, and how do they relate to the fungal life cycle?
Derived fungi have a haplontic life cycle. Where and when could you find a diploid cell?
What are mycorrhizae, and how does this relate to mushrooms you may find around a tree?
Parasitic fungus may have emerged 18 million years before the ants with which it lives today (Phys.org 8Dec2025)
└Digging into the evolutionary history of the fungus-growing-ant symbiont, Escovopsis (Hypocreaceae) (Montoya et al., 2025)
The fungus among us: Study shows fungi form living bridges to share water between neighboring plants (Phys.org 30Jul2025)
└Evidence for common fungal networks among plants formed by a Dark Septate Endophyte in Sorghum bicolor (Bock et al., 2025)
Soil-dwelling fungi shape tree diversity through complex underground partnerships, global study reveals (Phys.org 25Jun2025)
└Mycorrhizal symbioses and tree diversity in global forest communities (Jiang et al., 2025)
Fungal Spores in the Air May Signal Upcoming Flu and COVID Surges (ScienceBlog 20Jun2025)
Coveted red dye may owe its origins to a hidden fungal partner in lac insects (Phys.org 17Jun2025)
└Vaishally et al. (2025) An endosymbiotic origin of the crimson pigment from the lac insect
Yeast Converts Human Urine Into Valuable Bone Material (ScienceBlog 17Jun2025)
└Muller et al. (2025) Cost-effective urine recycling enabled by a synthetic osteoyeast platform for production of hydroxyapatite
Mysterious fungi: Researchers pinpoint hotspots of 'dark taxa' across Earth's underground ecosystems (Phys.org 10Jun2025)
└van Galen et al. (2025) The biogeography and conservation of Earth’s ‘dark’ ectomycorrhizal fungi
Africa has the highest rate of forest loss in the world—what the G20 can do about it (The Conversation, 4Jun2025)
Bacteria hitch a ride on yeast puddles to zoom around (Phys.org, 4Jun2025)
└Badal et al. (2025) Dynamic fluid layer around immotile yeast colonies mediates the spread of bacteria
Yeast reveals how species adapt to a warmer climate (Phys.org, 21May2025)
└Molinet & Stelkens (2025) The evolution of thermal performance curves in response to rising temperatures across the model genus yeast
How lichens are bringing stone to life and reconnecting us with the natural world (The Conversation, 19May2025)
Lichens could survive on Mars (Phys.org, 8Apr2025)
└Skubala et al. (2025) Ionizing radiation resilience: how metabolically active lichens endure exposure to the simulated Mars atmosphere
Inoculating soil with mycorrhizal fungi can increase plant yield by up to 40% (Phys.org, 29Nov2023)
└Lutz et al. 2023. Soil microbiome indicators can predict crop growth response to large-scale inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
Mycorrhizae may help store more than a third of fossil fuel emissions (ZME Science, 6Jun2023)
└Hawkins et al. 2023. Mycorrhizal mycelium as a global carbon pool
Findings suggest that fungal mycelia can 'recognize' shapes (Phys.org 8Oct2024)
└Fukasawa et al. (2024) Spatial resource arrangement influences both network structures and activity of fungal mycelia: A form of pattern recognition?
Fungi "sweat" to stay cool (LiveScience 5Jun2023)
└Cordero et al. (2023) The hypothermic nature of fungi
The Toxin That Helps Oyster Mushrooms Devour Worm Flesh (NY Times 18Jan2023)
Are Trees Talking Underground? For Scientists, It's In Dispute (NY Times 7Nov2022)
The Idea That Trees Talk to Cooperate Is Misleading (SciAm 19Jul2021)
Lichens are a symbiosis of three (not two) partners (Science 2016)
Plants force fungal partners to behave fairly (University of Zurich 2016)
Researchers evolve a multicellular yeast in the lab in 2 months (Ratcliff et al., 2011)
Mycorrhizae may not be mutually beneficial (IIASA, 2014)
On Fungi and Forest Diversity (In Defense of Plants, 2017)
Coevolution of roots and mycorrhizae (Brundrett, 2002)
Berkeley Chytrid Page
Frogs, once used for pregnancy tests, were attacked by chytrids
Stinky Cheese is the Result of Evolutionary Overdrive - New York Times (Sep. 2015)
Marine fungi could help feed the world and fight disease (The Conversation 13Jun2025)
David Attenborough: Secret Life of Fungi
Ancient plant-fungal partnerships reveal how the world became green