Question

What is an example of class basidiomycetes?

Answer 1

Basidiomycetes:

1. Mushrooms and puffballs are frequently seen in this type of fungi.
2. They grow in soil, on logs and trees, and in the living plants as parasites.
3. Asexual spores are not formed but vegetative reproduction takes place by fragmentation.
4. Sex organs are absent but the fusion of two vegetative cells results in the formation of the basidium which divides by meiosis to form basidiospores.

Example - Agaricus:

1. This saprophytic fungus grows on wood logs and soil.
2. The vegetative structure of Agaricus is made up of branched structures called hyphae, and a large number of hyphae from mycelium.
3. Asexual spores are chlamydospores that germinate under favorable conditions to form mycelium.
4. Sex organs are absent, but the majority of species of this genus are heterothallic.
5. The two thalli of opposite strains fuse to form dikaryotic or secondary mycelium.
6. Karyogamy takes place in basidium which undergoes meiosis to give four haploid basidiospores that are arranged in fruiting bodies called basidiocarps.