What characteristics are slime molds and fungi?

What are the Similarities Between Slime Molds and Fungi?
  • Both slime molds and fungi are eukaryotic organisms.
  • They show a heterotrophic mode of nutrition.
  • Furthermore, both groups show both sexual and asexual modes of reproduction.
  • Additionally, they form sporangia.
  • Also, both possess flagellated cells.

What are the main characteristics of slime molds and water molds?

Slime molds are fungus-like protists that grow as slimy masses on decaying matter. They are commonly found on items such as rotting logs. Water molds are fungus-like protists present in moist soil and surface water; they live as parasites or on decaying organisms.

What characteristics suggest that slime molds are protists?

Slime Molds are single-celled organisms that belong to the kingdom Protista (Protist). They feed on microorganisms. Slime molds live as single-cell organisms or aggregate together to form multicellular organisms. Protists and slime molds are polyphyletic.

How do you classify slime molds?

Slime molds are classified in the Kingdom Protista (the Protists), despite many years of having been classified as fungi, in the class Myxomycetes.

What are the examples of slime Moulds?

The Myxomycetes (true slime molds) are characterized by a plasmodial stage and definite fruiting bodies. Other slime molds include Protostelia (minute, simple slime molds), Acrasia (cellular slime molds), Plasmodiophorina (parasitic slime molds), and Labyrinthulina (net slime molds).

Do slime Moulds have cell wall?

IV.

The Myxomycota are the true slime molds, also known as the plasmodial slime molds, and are considered members of the kingdom Protista. They exist in nature as a plasmodium—a blob of protoplasm without cell walls and only a cell membrane to keep everything in (Fig. 13).

What do you mean by slime Mould?

Definition of slime mold

: any of a group (such as Myxomycetes) of organisms formerly held to be lower fungi but now often considered protists that exist vegetatively in usually moist habitats as mobile plasmodia and reproduce by spores.

Is slime mold single celled?

Slime mold, in fact, is a soil-dwelling amoeba, a brainless, single-celled organism, often containing multiple nuclei.

What is slime molds habitat?

Also referred to as myxomycetes, plasmodial slime molds are commonly seen on decaying forest litter and rotting wood. They play an important role as decomposers and recyclers of nutrients in the food web. Their diet consists of the bacteria which feed on decomposing plant matter.

What are the general characteristics of water molds?

The water molds resemble other fungi because they have branched filaments and form spores. However, the water molds have cellulose in their cell walls, while other fungi have chitin. Oomycetes have a complex reproductive cycle which includes flagella‐bearing zoospores. Certain water molds are parasites of fish.

Why are slime molds and water molds not classified as fungi?

Though they were formally classified as fungi, slime molds do not have chitin in their cell walls and have a diplontic life cycle (Figure 5.2. 1. 12). These organisms move about as amoebae engulfing bacteria (unlike fungi, who digest food externally).

Why slime molds and water molds are not included in kingdom fungi?

Slime molds lack chitin in their cell walls. Hence they are not Fungi. Slime molds have a single yellow blob with many nuclei. This is a characteristic feature of plasmodium ( member of Protozoa).

Which is known as water mold?

water mold, (order Saprolegniales), also spelled water mould, order of about 150 species of filamentous funguslike organisms (phylum Oomycota, kingdom Chromista). Many water molds live in fresh or brackish water or wet soils.

Is slime mold unicellular or multicellular?

The so-called cellular slime mold, a unicellular organism that may transition into a multicellular organism under stress, has just been found to have a tissue structure that was previously thought to exist only in more sophisticated animals.

What is slime mold made of?

Slime mold is not a plant or animal. It’s not a fungus, though it sometimes resembles one. Slime mold, in fact, is a soil-dwelling amoeba, a brainless, single-celled organism, often containing multiple nuclei.

What are the two stages of slime molds?

Key Points. Slime molds are categorized on the basis of their life cycles into plasmodial or cellular types, both of which end their life cycle in the form of dispersed spores.

Does slime mold have DNA?

Abstract. The molecular weight of single-stranded DNA from the slime mold Physarum polycephalum has been determined by alkaline gradient centrifugation. The average molecular weight during DNA synthesis (∼1.5 × 107 D) is less than that observed in nonsynthetic periods (∼4 × 107 D).

Where is slime mold found?

Also referred to as myxomycetes, plasmodial slime molds are commonly seen on decaying forest litter and rotting wood. They play an important role as decomposers and recyclers of nutrients in the food web. Their diet consists of the bacteria which feed on decomposing plant matter.