Basidiomycota

Basidiomycota:

This is a phylum of the fungi. In this phylum fungi produce the spore by sexual reproduction in the outside of the basidium. There are many genera and species of the basidiomycetes. The Basidiomycota also includes yeasts (single-celled forms; Fell et al. 2001).and asexual species. Basidiomycota comprise three subphyla (including six unassigned classes) 16 classes, 52 orders, 177 families, 1,589 genera, and 31,515 species (Kirk et al 2008). So diverse phylum includes like:

 

Mushroom       boletes                                                       

Puffballs          earthstars

Stinkhorns,       bird's-nest fungi,

Jelly fungi        conks (bracket fungi)

Rusts                 smuts

Habitat:

Many Basidiomycota obtain nutrition by decaying dead organic matter, including wood and leaf litter. Basidiomycota are found in virtually all terrestrial ecosystems, as well as freshwater and marine habitats (Kohlmeyer and Kohlmeyer, 1979; Hibbett and Binder, 2001).

Characteristics:

Basidiomycota are unicellular or multicellular, sexual or asexual, and terrestrial or aquatic. Indeed, Basidiomycota are so variable that it is impossible to identify any morphological characteristics that are both unique to the group and constant in the group. The most diagnostic feature is the production of basidia (sing. basidium), which are the cells on which sexual spores are produced, and from which the group takes its name.

Biological importance:

Several species are grown commercially for food, including the common cultivated mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, and some more exotic species which can be found on supermarket shelves. For example, the supermarket package below contains the brown-colored Shiitake mushroom (Lentinus edodes, traditionally grown in south-east Asia) and a mixture of grey, pink and yellow forms of the oyster fungus (Pleurotus ostreatus, reportedly an aphrodisiac).

Ecological Roless

·         Their contributions to the decay of plant and waste materials make them an important factor in the carbon cycle by decomposing the wood like organic bodies.

·         Basidiomycetes are of immense ecological and industrial importance in their mycorrhizal associations with forest trees and many other plants. Mycorrhiza is a symbiotic association between fungi and plant roots, form which both benefit. They advantages for the fungi are that the plants with which they are associated pass on photosynthetic products to them, and in turn the fungi provide the plants with mineral nutrients, which they can extract more efficiently from the soil.

Economical importance:

While mushrooms are used for food, there are also many other uses humans have for Basidiomycota. For example, the toxin phalloidin, found in the mushroom Amanita phalloides, is incorporated into fluorescent stains that are used by cell biologists to view the cytoskeleton. Certain wood-decaying enzymes are used in paper production. Some people use the chemicals provided by mushrooms for hallucinogenic purposes. These are often for spiritual reasons, but also make up a part of the illicit drug trade.

The species which need to conserve:

There are some endangered, valunerable, and critical endangered species of the Basidiomycota which have need to conserve them for the maintaining of our ecosystem. By IUCN the list of some main species is given below:

·         Amanita echinocefala

·         Agaricus mediofuscus cf.

·         C Hyphodontia juniper

·         lathrus ruber

·         Phellinus ferruginosus

·         Pleurotus ostreatus

·         Pyrofomes demidofii