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Discomycetes

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Discomycetes is a former taxonomic class of Ascomycete fungi which contains all of the cup, sponge and brain fungi, and some club-like fungi. It includes typical cup fungi like the scarlet elf cup and the orange peel fungus , and fungi with fruiting bodies of more unusual shape, such as morels , truffles and the swamp beacon . New taxonomic and molecular data fail to support the monophyly of the Discomycetes.

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14-571: Discomycetes are usually small and cup shaped, and come in singular form. A common feature of Discomycetes are the asci , which are typically produced on the surface of cup-like fruiting bodies. In most discomycetes, each ascus contains eight sexual spores that are forcibly discharged into the air when mature. In modern classifications, the members of the obsolete class are included in Pezizomycetes , Lecanoromycetes , Leotiomycetes and Sordariomycetes . This fungus -related article

28-558: A mitotic division. Two meiotic divisions turn the original diploid zygote nucleus into four haploid ones. That is, the single original diploid cell from which the whole process begins contains two complete sets of chromosomes . In preparation for meiosis, all the DNA of both sets is duplicated, to make a total of four sets. The nucleus that contains the four sets divides twice, separating into four new nuclei – each of which has one complete set of chromosomes. Following this process, each of

42-401: A few cases, the ascospores can bud off conidia that may fill the asci (e.g. Tympanis ) with hundreds of conidia, or the ascospores may fragment, e.g. some Cordyceps , also filling the asci with smaller cells. Ascospores are nonmotile, usually single celled, but not infrequently may be coenocytic (lacking a septum ), and in some cases coenocytic in multiple planes. Mitotic divisions within

56-504: A more variable developmental patterns. The fungi Saccharomyces produces ascospores when grown on V-8 medium, acetate ascospore agar, or Gorodkowa medium. These ascospores are globose and located in asci. Each ascus contains one to four ascospores. The asci do not rupture at maturity. Ascospores are stained with Kinyoun stain and ascospore stain. When stained with Gram stain, ascospores are gram-negative while vegetative cells are gram-positive. The fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe

70-536: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Ascus An ascus (from Ancient Greek ἀσκός ( askós )  'skin bag, wineskin'; pl. : asci ) is the sexual spore -bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi . Each ascus usually contains eight ascospores (or octad), produced by meiosis followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some genera or species can occur in numbers of one (e.g. Monosporascus cannonballus ), two, four, or multiples of four. In

84-480: Is a single-celled haploid organism that reproduces asexually by mitosis and fission. However, exposure to the DNA damaging agent hydrogen peroxide induces pair-wise mating of haploid cells of opposite mating type to form transient diploid cells that then undergo meiosis to form asci, each with four ascospores. The production of viable ascospores depends on successful recombinational repair during meiosis. When this repair

98-658: Is an example of positive feedback . A faint hissing sound can also be heard for species of Peziza and other cup fungi . Asci, notably those of Neurospora crassa , have been used in laboratories for studying the process of meiosis, because the four cells produced by meiosis line up in regular order. By modifying genes coding for spore color and nutritional requirements, the biologist can study crossing over and other phenomena. The formation of asci and their use in genetic analysis are described in detail in Neurospora crassa . Asci of most Pezizomycotina develop after

112-502: Is defective a quality control mechanism prevents germination of damaged ascospores. These findings suggest that mating followed by meiosis is an adaptation for repairing DNA damage in the parental haploid cells in order to allow production of viable progeny ascospores. Cup fungi The Pezizaceae (commonly referred to as cup fungi ) are a family of fungi in the Ascomycota which produce mushrooms that tend to grow in

126-422: The Ascomycota . There are four basic types of ascus. An ascospore is a spore contained in an ascus, or that was produced inside an ascus. This kind of spore is specific to fungi classified as ascomycetes ( Ascomycota ). The ascospores of Blumeria graminis are formed and released under the humid conditions. After landing onto a suitable surface, unlike conidia , ascospores of Blumeria graminis showed

140-424: The developing spores populate each resulting cell in septate ascospores with nuclei. The term ocular chamber , or oculus , refers to the epiplasm (the portion of cytoplasm not used in ascospore formation) that is surrounded by the "bourrelet" (the thickened tissue near the top of the ascus). Typically, a single ascus will contain eight ascospores (or octad). The eight spores are produced by meiosis followed by

154-487: The formation of croziers at their base. The croziers help maintain a brief dikaryon . The compatible nuclei of the dikaryon merge forming a diploid nucleus that then undergoes meiosis and ultimately internal ascospore formation. Members of the Taphrinomycotina and Saccharomycotina do not form croziers. The form of the ascus, the capsule which contains the sexual spores, is important for classification of

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168-607: The four new nuclei duplicates its DNA and undergoes a division by mitosis. As a result, the ascus will contain four pairs of spores. Then the ascospores are released from the ascus. In many cases the asci are formed in a regular layer, the hymenium , in a fruiting body which is visible to the naked eye, here called an ascocarp or ascoma . In other cases, such as single-celled yeasts , no such structures are found. In rare cases asci of some genera can regularly develop inside older discharged asci one after another, e.g. Dipodascus . Asci normally release their spores by bursting at

182-402: The shape of a "cup". Spores are formed on the inner surface of the fruit body ( ascoma ). The cup shape typically serves to focus raindrops into splashing spores out of the cup. Additionally, the curvature enables wind currents to blow the spores out in a different manner than in most agarics and boletes . Cup fungi grow in peculiar shapes, frequently resembling cups or saucers. For example,

196-435: The tip, but they may also digest themselves, passively releasing the ascospores either in a liquid or as a dry powder. Discharging asci usually have a specially differentiated tip, either a pore or an operculum. In some hymenium forming genera, when one ascus bursts, it can trigger the bursting of many other asci in the ascocarp resulting in a massive discharge visible as a cloud of spores – the phenomenon called "puffing". This

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