Fungal Reproduction

[vertciel]

Hello there,

I have a few questions on fungal reproduction and would appreciate some help. I am hoping that my educated guesses are correct.

Thank you!

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1. In my Campbell & Reece Textbook, the terms dikaryotic and heterokaryotic are used. Dikaryotic is used to describe basidiomycetes while heterokaryotic is used to describe zygomycetes. Since they are both denoted as (n + n), I am assuming that they mean the same thing?

2. In conjunction with question #1, would those terms mean that the haploid parental nuclei are just clumped together in the dikaryotic mycelium? I am assuming that each + and - mating types are just lying side by side and have not fused together yet?

3. Basically, can karyogamy (n + n -> 2n) can be considered the opposite of meiosis (2n -> n + n)?

4. Lastly, for zygomycetes, would the term zygospore be synonymous with zygosporangium? My Biology 11 textbook uses the former term, while my Campbell & Reece textbook uses the latter term.

[Cat]

1. Yes and no. Dikaryotic means cell with two nuclei that can be the identical or not while heterokaryotic means cell with two different nuclei. So you can say that all heterokaryotic cells are dikaryotic cells but not necessarily the other way around.

2. The cells fused the nuclei did not.

3. "Basically, can karyogamy (n + n -> 2n) can be considered the opposite of meiosis (2n -> n + n)?" I am not sure what you mean. Karyogamy does not always result in 2n.

4. Yes, basically the same thing.

[vertciel]

Thank you very much for your replies, Cat!