What phylum does Zygomycota belong to?

Zygomycota, or zygote fungi, is a former division or phylum of the kingdom Fungi. The members are now part of two phyla the Mucoromycota and Zoopagomycota. Approximately 1060 species are known. They are mostly terrestrial in habitat, living in soil or on decaying plant or animal material.

What type of fungi is Zygomycota?

Commonly called the bread molds, the Zygomycota are terrestrial fungi whose fruiting bodies are mostly microscopic in nature, although their asexually produced sporangia can reach greater than 5 cm tall in some species (Fig. 3).

What are the major characteristics of class Zygomycota?

The identifying characteristics of the Zygomycota are the formation of a zygospore during sexual reproduction and the lack of hyphal cell walls except in reproductive structures. Many (~100 species) are known plant root symbionts.

Are Zygomycota haploid or diploid?

Zygomycetes have a thallus of coenocytic hyphae in which the nuclei are haploid when the organism is in the vegetative stage. The fungi usually reproduce asexually by producing sporangiospores.

Is Zygomycota unicellular or multicellular?

Zygomycota (conjugated fungi) have a multicellular body structure; features include zygospores and presence in soil; examples are bread and fruit molds.

Why Zygomycota is called conjugation of fungi?

When the zygospore germinates, it undergoes meiosis and produces haploid spores, which will, in turn, grow into a new organism. This form of sexual reproduction in fungi is called conjugation (although it differs markedly from conjugation in bacteria and protists), giving rise to the name “conjugated fungi”.

Is Yeast A Zygomycota?

The phylum Zygomycota has over 1000 species. In addition, arthrospores, chlamydospores, and yeast cells can be formed by some species. The mature asexual spores can be dispersed by air, water, or by small animals.

What kind of reproduction is used by the Zygomycota?

The Zygomycota typically reproduce asexually by means of non-motile sporangiospores. Sexual reproduction is by gametangial copulation and results in the formation of zygospores. Some species are heterothallic and have a bipolar mating type system which is biallelic but there are some which are homothallic.

What is Zygomycota used for?

While Zygomycota are largely known to humans for the negative economic impact they have on fruit, they also have some practical use. For example, certain species are used in Asian food fermentations. In addition, people have used their pathogenic powers to control insect pests.

What is the reproductive structure of Zygomycota?

Zygomycetes have a thallus of coenocytic hyphae in which the nuclei are haploid when the organism is in the vegetative stage. The fungi usually reproduce asexually by producing sporangiospores. The black tips of bread mold, Rhizopus stolonifer, are the swollen sporangia packed with black spores.

What is the phylum of C elegans?

C. elegans is a nematode—a member of the phylum Nematoda. The roundworms and threadworms, a phylum of smooth-skinned, unsegmented worms with a long cylindrical body shape tapered at the ends; includes free-living and parasitic forms both aquatic and terrestrial.

What is the phylum Zygomycota?

The phylum Zygomycota represents a heterogenous group of mainly saprobes, usually found in the soil or in association with plants, fungi, animals, or humans as opportunistic pathogens. In addition, some are facultative or obligate parasites, the latter especially of arthropod and fungal hosts.

Do hermaphrodites of C elegans have different sex chromosomes?

Hermaphrodites of C. elegans have a matched pair of sex chromosomes (XX); the rare males have only one sex chromosome (X0). C. elegans are mostly hermaphroditic organisms, producing both sperms and oocytes. Males do occur in the population in a rate of approximately 1 in 200 hermaphrodites, but the two sexes are highly differentiated.

What is asexual reproduction in zygomycota?

Asexual Reproduction: Typically, most members of the Zygomycota produce their asexual spores in sporangia. This phylum is the only group of terrestrial fungi in which asexual spores are borne in this matter.