Biology · Biological Classification · NEET
No, fungi are not plants. Earlier, both plants and fungi were put together because both have a cell wall. But there are two big differences. First, plants make their own food using chlorophyll (autotrophs), while fungi have NO chlorophyll and must absorb food from outside (heterotrophs). Second, the plant cell wall is made of cellulose, but the fungal cell wall is made of chitin. Because of these differences, Whittaker placed fungi in their own Kingdom Fungi in the 1969 five kingdom system.
Fungi are eukaryotic. Their cells have a true, membrane-bound nucleus and other membrane-bound organelles. This is why yeast (Saccharomyces) is a eukaryote and NOT a prokaryote. Only Kingdom Monera (bacteria, cyanobacteria, mycoplasma) is prokaryotic. NEET repeatedly asks 'which is not a prokaryote?' and the answer is fungi/yeast.
Both. Most fungi are multicellular and filamentous, made of thread-like structures. But there is one important exception you must remember: yeast is unicellular. So the correct NEET statement is 'fungi are both unicellular and multicellular.' A trap statement says 'yeasts have filamentous bodies with hyphae' which is WRONG, because yeast is single-celled, not filamentous.
Fungi are heterotrophic, meaning they cannot make their own food. They absorb dissolved (soluble) organic food from outside their body. Most fungi are saprophytes (they feed on dead, decaying matter). Some are parasites (they feed on living plants or animals). Some live as symbionts (helpful partnership), like lichens (with algae) and mycorrhiza (with plant roots). This is why fungi are important decomposers in nature.
The fungal cell wall is made of chitin and other polysaccharides. This is a very common NEET one-liner. Do not confuse it with plants (cellulose), bacteria/eubacteria (peptidoglycan), or diatoms (silica). Chitin is sometimes called 'fungal cellulose', but it is chemically different from plant cellulose.
The body of a fungus is made of long, slender, thread-like structures called hyphae (singular: hypha). The whole network of these threads is called a mycelium. Some hyphae are continuous tubes without cross walls, filled with many nuclei in common cytoplasm; these are called coenocytic hyphae. Other hyphae have cross walls called septa; these are called septate hyphae.
Which one of the following is wrong for fungi?
Which of the following is not a prokaryote?
Arrange the following (Whittaker kingdoms) in increasing order of complexity of body organization: A. Multicellular heterotrophs with cell wall made of chitin. C. Prokaryotes with cell wall of polysaccharides and amino acids. E. Eukaryotes with cellular body organization. D. Eukaryotic autotrophs with tissue/organ level. B. Heterotrophs with tissue/organ/organ-system level.
Try the real previous-year questions from this chapter — each with the answer and a full solution.
Fungi are (1) eukaryotic, (2) heterotrophic (cannot make own food), (3) have a cell wall made of chitin and polysaccharides, (4) mostly multicellular and filamentous but yeast is unicellular, (5) body made of hyphae forming a mycelium, and (6) reproduce by vegetative, asexual (spores) and sexual methods.
Fungi are strictly heterotrophic. They have no chlorophyll, so they cannot do photosynthesis. They absorb soluble organic food and live as saprophytes, parasites, or symbionts.
Chitin is the main structural material of the fungal cell wall. It is the single most tested one-liner about fungi in NEET. Chitin separates fungi from plants (cellulose) and bacteria (peptidoglycan).
Yes. Yeast (Saccharomyces) is a unicellular fungus and belongs to Ascomycetes. It is a eukaryote, so it is often used as the trap answer in 'which is not a prokaryote?' questions.
Phycomycetes, Ascomycetes, Basidiomycetes and Deuteromycetes. They are separated based on morphology of the mycelium, mode of spore formation, and fruiting bodies (not on mode of nutrition).
