Microbes 101: Fungi

Fungi are a structurally diverse group of organisms, and not all of them are small. They range from single-celled yeasts in the sediment of your wine bottle that can process sugars into alcohol (a process called fermentation), to microscopic detritovores that break down dead plant material and release those nutrients into the soil, to the portabellos on your pizza. But as with all other microbes it’s not all positive: they cause mold on our bread, skin rashes, and even death if you eat the wrong mushroom. Fungi are eukaryotic: their cells contain organelles including a DNA-filled nucleus. Although they might superficially seem like plants, they aren’t capable of photosynthesis; they can’t capture energy from the sun to make sugars.

Like plants, they have rigid cell walls, but they make their walls from very different molecules. They are actually crucial symbionts to many plants themselves, living in the root systems and transporting necessary nutrients. Many fungi can grow hyphae, long, tubular structures that form vast interconnected networks. In the Northwest U.S., a vast fungal network covers nearly four square miles of forest and is thought to be the largest and oldest living organism on Earth. And though bacteria get more attention in terms of the human microbiome, fungi are an important part of our personal microbial communities as well. So, don’t forget the (not so) little guys. Without them, plants couldn’t grow, and pizza and beer night just wouldn’t be the same.

*Image credits: Wikimedia Commons

I Contain Multitudes is a multi-part video series dedicated to exploring the wonderful, hidden world of the microbiome. The series is hosted by science writer Ed Yong and produced by HHMI Tangled Bank Studios in association with Room 608.