Home » Science & Nature » Human Anatomy » Fungal skins,

Fungal skins,

© Narayan Dattatray Wadadekar

Fungi make a huge big kingdom comprising of about 77000 species. Some of them are unicellular and microscopic, while many are multicellular and megascopic. In fact, the largest living individual organisms are fungi.

There are some fungi whose individual bodies are spread over areas as vast as 40 acres (Armillaria bulbosa) and some claim of other funglal individuals covering 1500 acres and even more. (1 acre = unit area of 4840 square yards and even the conservative estimate of some massive fungi being 40 acres gives us a figure of 193,600 square yards).

There is a fungus, Armillaria ostoyae i.e. the " Honey mushroom" found in the soil of the Malheur national Forest in eastern Oregon. This fungus which has been slowly growing through the roots of trees for centuries has now come to be regarded as the largest living organism. (covering 2200 acres and growing further)

Impressed? Read more about the largest living creature in the world - Armillaria ostoyae - on the site - http://www.vgspc.com/newsy/armillaria.htm

The fungi used to be grouped under the plant kingdom, as they looked like plants - rooted at a place, getting their nutrients from the soil, forming spores for propagating themselves.

But several characters found in fungi compelled scientists to create a separate kingdom for fungi. The fungal cell wall is made of chitin, the same material that makes the crab and the lobster shell and insect body covers. As early as - 1811 Braconnot found there was an alkali-resistant nitrogen-containing residue in mushrooms. This residue contained less Nitrogen than in protein. He named it fungin. Later in - 1825.

Odier discovered a novel Nitrogen compound in insect exoskeleton and gave it the name chitin. The fungus cell wall contains a large amount of carbohydrates - Polysaccharides e.g. chitin, mannans, glucans upto about - 85%. These are in the form of background matter as well as distinct laid down fibers. Its protein content is about 10 % and fats about 5%. Similar structure of jelly like matrix and microfibrillar components laid in it is seen in plant cell walls and ligaments in animals.

Small amount of pigments give the fungus its characteritic colors - black, tan, blue, pink, orange, yellow, brown, purple, green, and red. The pigments responsible are - carotin, erythroglaucin, flavoglaucin, citrinin, citromycetin etc.

Fungi secrete enzymes such as cellulase. The cellulase allows them to break down cellulose into simple sugars like, glucose from plant matter. This external digestion takes a long time -- fungi are not motile, and have to stay in one place.The exception to this rule are the chytrids - the fungi who have flagella and are motile.