SEXUAL REPRODUCTION IN FUNGI

SEXUAL REPRODUCTION IN FUNGI

·       A fungal sexual spore results from sexual reproduction, which consists of three phases:

i)      Plasmogamy (fusion of Cytoplasm) - A haploid nucleus of a Donor cell (+) penetrates the cytoplasm of a Recipient cell (−).

ii)    Karyogamy (fusion of Nuclei) - The Donor (+) and Recipient (−) nuclei fuse to form a diploid zygote nucleus.

iii)  Meiosis - The diploid nucleus gives rise to haploid nuclei (sexual spores), some of which may be genetic recombinants.

·       Some of the types of Sexual spores in fungi includes i) Ascospore, ii) Basidiospore, iii) Zygospore and iv) Oospore.