What are zoosporic fungi?

Zoosporic true fungi (often called chytrids) include a very large and diverse group of microorganisms which have been commonly observed growing on many substrates in samples collected from both soil and freshwater habitats (Sparrow, 1960; Powell, 1993; Barr, 2001; Shearer et al., 2007).

What family is Chytridiomycota in?

Chytridiomycota are a division of zoosporic organisms in the kingdom Fungi, informally known as chytrids.

What are characteristics of Chytridiomycota?

Chytridiomycota, a phylum of fungi (kingdom Fungi) distinguished by having zoospores (motile cells) with a single, posterior, whiplash structure (flagellum). Species are microscopic in size, and most are found in freshwater or wet soils. Most are parasites of algae and animals or live on organic debris (as saprobes).

What are classification of fungi?

Fungi are usually classified in four divisions: the Chytridiomycota (chytrids), Zygomycota (bread molds), Ascomycota (yeasts and sac fungi), and the Basidiomycota (club fungi). Placement into a division is based on the way in which the fungus reproduces sexually.

Are chytrids protists?

The first recognizable chytrids appeared more than 500 million years ago during the late pre-Cambrian period. Like protists, chytrids usually live in aquatic environments, but some species live on land. Some chytrids are saprobes while others are parasites that may be harmful to amphibians and other animals.

What type of fungi is Chytridiomycota?

aerobic zoosporic fungi
Chytridiomycota (true chytrids) are aerobic zoosporic fungi that operate as saprotrophs and pathogens in freshwater, brackish, and marine habitats, and are also abundant in soil. The host range of pathogenic chytrids includes other fungi, algae, plants, and amphibians.

What is common name of Chytridiomycota?

They are called sac fungi because their sexual spores, called ascospores, are produced in a sac or ascus….Classification of Fungi.

Group Chytridiomycota
Common Name Chytrids
Hyphal Organization coenocytic hyphae (if present)
Reproduction Characteristics Asexual: motile zoospores Sexual: sporangiospores
Example Allomyces

What are the five classification of fungi?

The five true phyla of fungi are the Chytridiomycota (Chytrids), the Zygomycota (conjugated fungi), the Ascomycota (sac fungi), the Basidiomycota (club fungi) and the recently described Phylum Glomeromycota.

Why are chytrids fungi?

Finally, like other fungi, chytrids have chitin strengthening their cell walls, and one subgroup (Hyphochytrids) have cellulose as well, a trait unique among living fungi. The presence of chitin is thus an important defining feature of the fungi.

How many species of chytrids are there?

1,000 chytrid species
The chytrids are the most primitive of the fungi and are mostly saprobic (degrading chitin and keratin). Many chytrids are aquatic (mostly found in fresh water). There are approximately 1,000 chytrid species, in 127 genera, distributed among 5 orders.