Phylum Zygomycota

4032604 Lecture 16

Classes
Zygomycetes
870 species in 124 genera, 32 families and
10 orders

Trichomycetes
218 species in 55 genera, 6 families and 3
orders

Sexual Reproduction
Sexual reproduction by production of
zygospores (=thick-walled resting
spores) within zygosporangia that are
formed by fusion of gametangia

Mycelium

plasmogamy
Progametangia

karyogamy

Suspensors

Gametangia

Zygospore
Zygote

http://www.botany.utoronto.ca/ResearchLabs/MallochLab/Malloch/Mo
ulds/Zygospores_of_Mucorales.html

Asexual Reproduction
Sporangia
Sporangiospores delimited from cytoplasm
by cleavage vesicle fusion

Conidia
Formed by same mechanism as
blastoconidia

Class Zygomycetes
Orders to be covered:
Mucorales
Kickxellales
Dimargaris
Zoopagales
Entomophthorales
Glomales

Order Mucorales
Well developed, typically coenocytic
mycelium
Wall composition of chitosan, chitin and
polyglucoronic acid
Asexual reproduction by formation of
sporangiospores cleaved out from the
cytoplasm of sporangia
Chlamydospores may be formed
Called mucoralean or mucoraceous fungi

Sporangia
Most taxa produce globose sporangia
Sporangial wall can be persistant or
fragile, of various colors, and is usually
smooth

Mucor

sporangiospores
columella

sporangium

sporangiophore

http://www.botany.utoronto.ca/ResearchLabs/MallochLab/Malloch/Moulds.html

Sporangia
Apophysate
Subsporangial
swelling

Nonapophysate
Lacking
subsporangial
swelling

Sporangiospores
One-celled
1- to multinucleate
Smooth-walled, or ornamented with
spines, warts or striations
Most taxa produce hyaline spores
Some taxa produce spores with hyaline
appendages

Sporangiolum
Sporangium
containing 1-50
spores
Merosporangium
is a sporangiolum
with spores in
linear series

Rhizopus

stolons

rhizoids

http://www.botany.utoronto.ca/ResearchLabs/MallochLab/Malloch/Moulds.html

Rhizopus
From Bioimages

No columella

Mortierella

http://www.botany.utoronto.ca/ResearchLabs/MallochLab/Malloch/Moulds.html

Pilobolus
Common fungus sporulating on
dung
Sporangia with dark, thick,
persistant wall
Characterized by forcibly
discharged sporangia (> 2 meters!)
Sporangiophores are phototropic (bend
towards light)

Pilairasimilar morphology and

ecology, lacks discharge mechanism

sporangium

sporangiophore
substrate
trophocyst

Photo by Marco Hernandez-Bello

Photo by Marco Hernandez-Bello

Sexual Compatibility
Regulated by trisporic acid, a sex pheromone
(Blakeslee, 1904):
Enhances secretion of specific precursors of
trisporic acid and beta-carotene
Positively regulates its own synthesis by
stimulating rate of precursor formation in paired
cultures
Induces zygophore formation
Represses sporangiophore formation

Zygospores
Thick-walled, usually hyaline, but
zygosporangium wall often pigmented
and ornamented
One zygospore per zygosporangium
Germination by formation of hyphae or
sporangium

Ecology
Saprotrophs
Soil, dung, humus

Plant pathogens

Choanephora cucurbitarium
on flowers & fruits of cucurbits

Rhizopus stolonifer

Post-harvest pathogen of strawberries, sweet potatoes

Animal pathogens

Species of Absidia, Mucor, Rhizopus, Saksanea

Industrial applications
Industrial production of amylases,
rennins, secondary metabolites and
organic acids
citric, fumaric, lactic and succinic acids

Production of Asian Foods

Tofu or sufu (Chinese cheese)
A soft cheese-type product made from cubes
of soybean curd using fermentation by
Actinomucor elegans

Tempeh
A solid cakelike product from soybeans
fermented with Rhizopus oligosporus

Order Kickxellales
One family and eight genera
Characterized by one-spored
sporangiola formed on pseudophialides
borne on sporocladia
Extensively branched, septate mycelium
Saprotrophs, common in soil and dung

pseudophialides

merosporangia
sporocladia

From ODonnell 1979

From ODonnell 1979

Order Dimargaritales
One family and four genera
Characterized by 2-spored
merosporangia formed on terminal
inflated ampullae
Produce branched, septate hyphae with
unusual, dumbbell-shaped septal plugs
Obligate mycoparasites of mucoraceous
fungi

Dimargaris

From ODonnell 1979

Order Zoopagales
Five families, 21 genera, 163 species
Coenocytic or septate hyphae
Conidia or multispored merosporangia
All members are obligate parasites of other
fungi or microscopic animals (amoebae,
rotifers, nematodes)
Ectoparasitic, endoparasitic or predaceous
Haustoria formed in host in ectoparasitic and
predaceous species

Syncephalis (11) and Piptocephalis (12)

From ODonnell 1979