Methods of Reproduction in Fungi

Fungi reproduce both asexually and sexually. Asexual methods include: zoospores (flagellate cells produced inside a zoosporangium, e.g. Chytrids); conidia (spores produced on a conidiophore, e.g. Aspergillus); oidia/thallospores/arthrospores (formed when a hypha simply divides up into separate spore-like segments, e.g. Erysiphe); fission (a vegetative cell splitting into two daughter cells, e.g. the yeast Schizosaccharomyces); budding (a small outgrowth on the parent cell that detaches and becomes independent, e.g. the yeast Saccharomyces); and chlamydospores (thick-walled resting spores, e.g. Fusarium). Sexual reproduction, whichever route it takes, always runs through the same three underlying steps - plasmogamy (fusion of the two protoplasts), karyogamy (fusion of the two nuclei), and meiosis (producing haploid spores) - and is achieved through one of five mechanisms: planogametic copulation, the fusion of motile gametes, itself of three grades - isogamy (morphologically and physiologically similar gametes, e.g. Synchytrium), anisogamy (dissimilar gametes, e.g. Allomyces), and oogamy (both morphologically and physiologically dissimilar gametes, e.g. Monoblepharis); gametangial contact, where a physical contact forms directly between an antheridium and an oogonium without the gametangia actually fusing (e.g. Albugo); gametangial copulation, where the gametangia themselves fuse to form a zygospore (e.g. Mucor, Rhizopus); spermatisation, where a s …