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WHAT ALL ARE THE FEATURES OF FUNGI |
The fungi are eukaryotic and have membrane-bound cellular organelles and nuclei. They have no plastids of any kind (and no chlorophyll). They have hyphae. . Hyphae are microscopic branching threads. Each thread consists of a tube formed from a wall enclosing cytoplasm and a vacuole. The hyphal walls are not made of cellulose but of a substance called chitin, an organic nitrogenous compound.. The hyphae contain many nuclei distributed throughout the cytoplasm. Sometimes the hyphae are divided into compartments by cross walls.The tips of the growing hyphae produce enzymes which digest the organic material. The soluble products are absorbed into the hyphae. The hyphae of the fungi are of two general kinds: Some are septate, and are divided by septa (walls) that separate the cylindrical hypha into cells; in the nonseptate fungi, the hypha is one long tube. (The septa are perforated, however, permitting the cytoplasm to flow throughout the length of the filament.) Mitosis occurs in the nonseptate hyphae, but there is no accompanying cytokinesis (division of the cytoplasm) so the hyphae are multinucleate (with many nuclei). The special name for this condition—an organism or part of an organism with many nuclei not separated by walls or membranes—is coenocytic, and the organism is a coenocyte.. The fungi do not have chlorophyll, so they cannot make their food in the way that plants do. They feed on dead or decaying organic matter and are classed as saprophytes. Their hyphae penetrate the dead material and form a branching network called a mycelium. . |