Members of the fungi kingdom are osmotrophs.
Fungi is a Latin term that can be translated as mushroom . The fungi kingdom , therefore, is the kingdom of fungi: those living beings of the eukaryotic type , such as mushrooms , yeasts and molds .
The members of the fungi kingdom are not animals, plants or protists . There is, however, confusion regarding certain organisms, and there are even organisms whose classification in one kingdom or another changed over the years.
The members of the fungi kingdom
Today it is understood that members of the fungi kingdom are eukaryotic organisms whose cell walls are made of chitin . Fungi are osmotrophs (they develop external digestion that involves the secretion of enzymes, then reabsorbed).
Other characteristics of fungi are the presence of cellular organelles and vacuoles, the lack of chloroplasts and the production of spores. There are fungi that are similar to bacteria , while others resemble plants .
Members of the fungi kingdom have the ability to decompose dead matter. This means that when an animal or plant dies, fungi take care of its decomposition .
Other features
In addition to all of the above, it is important to know that the members of the fungi kingdom also have another interesting series of characteristics, among which we highlight the following:
-They feed through the absorption of nutrients from organic material.
-They reproduce asexually by budding, mainly through spores.
-They are fundamentally terrestrial and the habitat in which they usually develop is in humid and dark areas.
-One of the curiosities in medicine is that a substance as important as penicillin is obtained precisely from a member of this fungal kingdom, specifically from the mold penicilliumnotatum.
-You have to know that there are mushrooms that are poisonous, specifically it is estimated that there are about 200 different species of these. This would be the case of the Satan's ticket or the phalloid amanita.
In the fungi kingdom there are edible species, such as mushrooms.
Classifications in the fungi kingdom
Likewise, you should know that the members of the fungal kingdom can be classified into two large groups:
-The superior fungi. These are in turn made up of two groups: the ascomycetes, such as truffles, and the basidiomycetes, which are found mainly in forests such as mushrooms. It must be said that higher fungi are identified because they have a chitinous membrane, because they have filaments and because
-The lower fungi. This group, as in the previous case, is also made up of two large groups: the oomycophytes, such as aquatic molds, and the zygomycophytes, with molds as the greatest exponent.
Economic relevance
Certain organisms of the fungi kingdom have great importance in the economy . Some mushrooms, for example, are very popular in gastronomy . Yeasts, for their part, are essential for making bread and beer . There are also fungi that are processed to produce antibiotics.
One of the most famous edible mushrooms is Agaricus bisporus , popularly known as mushroom . This member of the fungi kingdom is used in pizzas, salads and sauces , among other preparations.