Question

What is the life cycle of Basidiomycota?

Answer 1

Basidiomycota:

1. Basidiomycetes are the most advanced and most commonly seen fungi as their fructifications are often large and conspicuous.
2. These are the best decomposers of wood.
3. Examples are Mushrooms, toadstools, puff balls etc.

Life cycle:

1. The life cycle of basidiomycetes has primary, secondary and tertiary mycelium.
2. They produce both haploid and dikaryotic mycelia, with the dikaryotic phase being dominant.
3. They generally reproduce sexually by forming basidiospores on a basidium.
4. In the basidium, nuclei of two different mating strains fuse (karyogamy), giving rise to a diploid zygote that then undergoes meiosis.
5. The haploid nuclei migrate into four different chambers appended to the basidium, and then become basidiospores.
6. Each basidiospore germinates and generates monokaryotic haploid hyphae that is called a primary mycelium.
7. Mycelia of different mating strains combine to produce a secondary mycelium that contains haploid nuclei of two different mating strains.
8. This forms the dominant dikaryotic stage of the basidiomycete life cycle and each cell in this mycelium has two haploid nuclei, which will not fuse until formation of the basidium.
9. Later, the secondary mycelium generates a basidiocarp (a fruiting body). The basidiocarp bears the developing basidia on the gills under its cap.