Asexual reproduction in Fungi

Asexual reproduction in Fungi:

In fungi, asexual reproduction which does not involve meiosis and fusion of nuclei is called asexual reproduction. It occurs by the following methods-

1. Fragmentation

2. Budding

3. Fission

4. Oidia

5. Chlamydospore 

6. Spore

7. Sporangiospore

8. Conidia

(1) Fragmentation: The fungal mycelium gets broken into smaller fragments accidentally or through external force. Each fragment (piece) develops into a new individual. This type of reproduction is common in fungi.

(2) Budding: The plant cell ( fungal cell) (unicellular) produces 1 or more bud-like structure which detaches from parent cell/mother cell and grows into a new individual. Example: Yeast

(3) Fission: The parent cell splits into two equal halves by constriction and formation of the cell wall and each half develops into a new individual. Fission is very common in bacteria and also occurs in yeast.

(4) oidia: In several fungi example: Mucor, the hyphae forming the mycelium often become divided by transverse walls into a large number of short segments, each of which is capable of germinating and developing into a new plant. These segments, which may remain united in the chain or become free from one another, are known as oidia.

(5) Chlamydospore: They are producing like oidia, but they differ from the later (means oidia) in being the thick wall and colored black or brown. They are terminal or produced at irregular intervals along the hyphae. On germination, they produced a short hypha bearing either sporangia or conidia.  

(6) Spore: Fungi reproduce most commonly by the production of spores. These are minute propagating units that serve in the production of individuals. They vary in shape, size, and color in different individuals and sometimes serve as basis in the classification of certain groups of fungi. the asexual spores are of two types-

(a) Sporangiospores

(b) Conidia

(a) Sporangiospores: These spores are produced inside the sac-like structures called sporangia. Sometimes these spores are also turned as endospores. If the sporangiospores are nonmotile, they are called aplanospores (Example: Mucor). If the sporangiospores are motile, they are called Zoospores. The zoospores may be uniflagellate or multiflagellate (biflagellate).

(b) Conidia: These are nonmotile spores produce spores produce singly or in chains by constrictions at the tip or lateral side of special hypha branches, called conidiospores. They are produced exogenously. The conidia germinate directly by giving out a germ tube. Sometimes the conidia behave like sporangia and called conidiosporangia.

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