Basidiomycota
Sign in to saveThe Basidiomycota () are one of two large divisions that, together with the Ascomycota, constitute the subkingdom Dikarya (often referred to as the "higher fungi") within the kingdom Fungi. Members are known as basidiomycetes. This division includes: agarics, puffballs, stinkhorns, bracket fungi, other polypores, jelly fungi, boletes, chanterelles, earth stars, smuts, bunts, rusts, mirror yeasts, and Cryptococcus, the human pathogenic yeast.
AI overview
Basidiomycota are one of the two major groups of higher fungi, and they include the mushrooms and toadstools you might recognize, along with less familiar fungi like puffballs, bracket fungi, and certain disease-causing yeasts. This division matters because it encompasses both economically important organisms—such as edible mushrooms and decomposers that recycle nutrients—and medically significant ones like Cryptococcus, which can infect humans.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Wikidata facts
Show 2 more facts
via Wikidata · CC0
Article
14 sectionsContents
- Classification
- Agaricomycotina
- Pucciniomycotina
- Ustilaginomycotina
- Genera included
- Typical life cycle
- Meiosis
- Variations in lifecycles
- Rusts
- Smuts
- See also
- References
- Sources
- External links
The Basidiomycota () are one of two large divisions that, together with the Ascomycota, constitute the subkingdom Dikarya (often referred to as the "higher fungi") within the kingdom Fungi. Members are known as basidiomycetes. This division includes: agarics, puffballs, stinkhorns, bracket fungi, other polypores, jelly fungi, boletes, chanterelles, earth stars, smuts, bunts, rusts, mirror yeasts, and Cryptococcus, the human pathogenic yeast.
Basidiomycota are filamentous fungi composed of hyphae (except for basidiomycota-yeast) and reproduce sexually via the formation of specialized club-shaped end cells called basidia that normally bear external meiospores (usually four). These specialized spores are called basidiospores. However, some Basidiomycota are obligate asexual reproducers. Basidiomycota that reproduce asexually (discussed below) can typically be recognized as members of this division by gross similarity to others, by the formation of a distinctive anatomical feature (the clamp connection), cell wall components, and definitively by phylogenetic molecular analysis of DNA sequence data.