Basidomycotina: Classification, Characteristics and Reproduction

Contents:

Subkingdom: Mycota
Division: Eumycota
Sub-division: Basidomycotina

G.C. Ainsworth’s system of classification includes Basidomycotina which is a subdivision under Eumycota
This is also known as Club Fungi
This is also non-motile fungi.
These group of fungi are known to be true fungi.
Major edible fungi belong to this Phylum
It is a large group of fungi having around 30000 species.
They include mushrooms and toadstools, bracket fungi, puffballs, earth stars, stinkhorns, false truffles, jelly fungi, earth balls and some less familiar forms.

These have septate and multinucleate mycelium while some are yeast-like and others are dimorphic
They are known as club fungi due to the presence of club-shaped basidium.
Fruiting bodies are called basidiocarps
These are found in the tip of the stalks called sterigmata
Cell wall made up of chitin
They have well developed filamentous mycelium
Adjacent cells are separated by dolipore septa
The transverse septa which divide both monokaryotic and dikaryotic hyphae into segments
contain a central pore which allows cytoplasmic continuity between adjacent segments. The septal pore is surrounded by a barrel-shaped flange of thickened wall material called dolipore
septa which are a characteristic feature of Basidiomycotina
They are found in terrestrial regions but some grow in freshwater or marine habitats.
They may be saprotrophic and are involved in litter and wood decay.
The fruit bodies of many mushrooms are edible Ex. Agaricus bisporus, Pleurotus spp, Lentinula edodes.
They possess both sexual and asexual reproduction
Basidiomycota are known to be related to Ascomycota

It undergoes vegetative, asexual and sexual reproduction.

Conidia formation– It may develop on monokaryotic or dikaryotic mycelia. In rusts, smuts, etc
Oidia- It may develop on monokaryotic and dikaryotic mycelia
Clamydospores- They are formed terminally on aerial branched conidiophores which develop from a mycelium lacking clamp connections.

These are small, haploid, thin-walled and uninucleate cells produced exogenously on the basidium.
The number of basidiospores produced by a single basidiocarp can be extremely high.
They are transported by the wind current, insect or rain etc. and later start germinating.
These are considered sexual spores as they combine the genetic material from both the strains.

Plasmogamy- The haploid donor cell nucleus penetrates cytoplasm of the recipient cell
Karyogamy- Two strains of nuclei fuse together
Meiosis- The diploid nucleus produces haploid nuclei

Most edible fungi fall in this group
Many of these fungi are also pathogenic in nature
Sporobolomyces roseus basidiospores is a cause for respiratory allergens which is found on moribund leaf surfaces.
Another is Cryptococcus neoformans, which grows commonly on old “weathered” bird droppings, and which can cause a fatal systemic infection of immunocompromised people. Its air-borne basidiospores initiate infection via the lungs, leading to the disease termed cryptococcosis.

Reference

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/basidiomycetes

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-biology2xmaster/chapter/classification-of-fungi/

http://archive.bio.ed.ac.uk/jdeacon/microbes/basidio.htm

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