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Most true fungi have a cell wall consisting largely of chitin and other polysaccharides. [28] True fungi do not have cellulose in their cell walls. [16] In fungi, the cell wall is the outer-most layer, external to the plasma membrane. The fungal cell wall is a matrix of three main components: [16]
A hypha consists of one or more cells surrounded by a tubular cell wall. In most fungi, hyphae are divided into cells by internal cross-walls called "septa" (singular septum). Septa are usually perforated by pores large enough for ribosomes, mitochondria, and sometimes nuclei to flow between cells.
The fungal cell wall is made of a chitin-glucan complex; while glucans are also found in plants and chitin in the exoskeleton of arthropods, [36] fungi are the only organisms that combine these two structural molecules in their cell wall. Unlike those of plants and oomycetes, fungal cell walls do not contain cellulose. [37] [38]
It is a primary component of cell walls in fungi (especially filamentous and mushroom-forming fungi), the exoskeletons of arthropods such as crustaceans and insects, the radulae, cephalopod beaks and gladii of molluscs and in some nematodes and diatoms. [2] [3] It is also synthesised by at least some fish and lissamphibians. [4]
Typical fungal cell wall structure. Zygomycetes exhibit a special structure of cell wall. Most fungi have chitin as structural polysaccharide, while zygomycetes synthesize chitosan, the deacetylated homopolymer of chitin. Chitin is built of β-1,4 bonded N-acetyl glucosamine. Fungal hyphae grow at the tip.
One difference that places fungi in a different kingdom is that their cell walls contain chitin, unlike the cell walls of plants, bacteria and some protists. Similar to animals, fungi are heterotrophs , that is, they acquire their food by absorbing dissolved molecules, typically by secreting digestive enzymes into their environment.
The cell walls of the ascomycetes almost always contain chitin and β-glucans, and divisions within the hyphae, called "septa", are the internal boundaries of individual cells (or compartments). The cell wall and septa give stability and rigidity to the hyphae and may prevent loss of cytoplasm in case of local damage to cell wall and cell membrane.
Structure of a typical animal cell Structure of a typical plant cell. Plants, animals, fungi, slime moulds, protozoa, and algae are all eukaryotic. These cells are about fifteen times wider than a typical prokaryote and can be as much as a thousand times greater in volume.