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The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cycle , [ 1 ] while the rest of the life cycle is characterized by vegetative mycelial growth and asexual ...
The hydnoid fungi (tooth fungi) produce spores on pendant, tooth-like or spine-like projections. [108] The bird's nest fungi use the force of falling water drops to liberate the spores from cup-shaped fruiting bodies. [109]
"Mushroom" also describes a variety of other gilled fungi, with or without stems; therefore the term is used to describe the fleshy fruiting bodies of some Ascomycota. The gills produce microscopic spores which help the fungus spread across the ground or its occupant surface.
In most cases, the sclerotium consists exclusively of fungal hyphae, whereas some may consist partly of fungal hyphae plexus and partly in between tissues of the substrate (ergot, Sclerotinia). In favorable conditions, sclerotia germinate to form fruiting bodies (basidiomycetes) or mycelium with conidia (in imperfect fungi).
During late summer to early fall, the fungus will produce a survival structure called a sclerotium either on or inside the tissues of a host plant. S. sclerotiorum sclerotia can remain viable for at least three years [ 12 ] and germinate to produce fruiting bodies called apothecia , which are small, thin stalks ending with a cup-like structure ...
Because truffle fungi produce their sexual fruiting bodies underground, spores cannot be spread by wind and water. Therefore, nearly all truffles depend on mycophagous animal vectors for spore dispersal. [1] This is analogous to the dispersal of seeds in fruit of angiosperms.
Ascomycetes, along with other fungi, can break down large molecules such as cellulose or lignin, and thus have important roles in nutrient cycling such as the carbon cycle. The fruiting bodies of the Ascomycota provide food for many animals ranging from insects and slugs and snails to rodents and larger mammals such as deer and wild boars.
These mutations, when homozygous in the diploid stage, often cause spores to have maturation defects or to produce barren fruiting bodies with few ascospores (sexual spores). The majority of these homozygous mutations cause abnormal meiosis (e.g. disturbed chromosome pairing or disturbed pachytene or diplotene). [12]