A fungus () is a eukaryotic organism that is a member of the kingdom Fungi (). The fungi are heterotrophic organisms possessing a chitinous cell wall. The majority of species grow as multicellular filaments called hyphae forming a mycelium; some fungal species also grow as single cells. Sexual and asexual reproduction of the fungi is commonly via spores, often produced on specialized structures or in fruiting bodies. Some species have lost the ability to form specialized reproductive structures, and propagate solely by vegetative growth. Yeasts, molds, and mushrooms are examples of fungi. The fungi are a monophyletic group that is phylogenetically clearly distinct from the morphologically similar slime molds (myxomycetes) and water molds (oomycetes). The fungi are more closely related to animals than plants, yet the discipline of biology devoted to the study of fungi, known as mycology, often falls under a branch of botany.

Occurring worldwide, most fungi are largely invisible to the naked eye, living for the most part in soil, dead matter, and as symbionts of plants, animals, or other fungi. They perform an essential role in all ecosystems in decomposing organic matter and are indispensable in nutrient cycling and exchange. Some fungi become noticeable when fruiting, either as mushrooms or molds. Many fungal species have long been used as a direct source of food, such as mushrooms and truffles and in fermentation of various food products, such as wine, beer, and soy sauce. More recently, fungi are being used as sources for antibiotics used in medicine and various enzymes, such as cellulases, pectinases, and proteases, important for industrial use or as active ingredients of detergents. Many fungi produce bioactive compounds called mycotoxins, such as alkaloids and polyketides that are toxic to animals including humans. Some fungi are used recreationally or in traditional ceremonies as a source of psychotropic compounds. Several species of the fungi are significant pathogens of humans and other animals, and losses due to diseases of crops (e.g., rice blast disease) or food spoilage caused by fungi can have a large impact on human food supply and local economies.

Etymology and definition

The English word fungus is directly adopted from the Latin fungus, meaning "mushroom", used in Horace and Pliny. This in turn is derived from the Greek word sphongos/σφογγος ("sponge"), referring to the macroscopic structures and morphology of some mushrooms and molds and also used in other languages (e.g., the German Schwamm ("sponge") or Schwammerl for some types of mushroom).

Diversity

Fungi have a worldwide distribution, and grow in a wide range of habitats, including deserts. Most fungi grow in terrestrial environments, but several species occur only in aquatic habitats. Fungi along with bacteria are the primary decomposers of organic matter in most if not all terrestrial ecosystems worldwide. Based on observations of the ratio of the number of fungal species to the number of plant species in some environments, the fungal kingdom has been estimated to contain about 1.5 million species. Around 70,000 fungal species have been formally described by taxonomists, but the true dimension of fungal diversity is still unknown. Most fungi grow as thread-like filaments called hyphae, which form a mycelium, while others grow as single cells. Until recently many fungal species were described based mainly on morphological characteristics, such as the size and shape of spores or fruiting structures, and biological species concepts; the application of molecular tools, such as DNA sequencing, to study fungal diversity has greatly enhanced the resolution and added robustness to estimates of diversity within various taxonomic groups.

Importance for human use

Human use of fungi for food preparation or preservation and other purposes is extensive and has a long history: yeasts are required for fermentation of beer, wine and bread, some other fungal species are used in the production of soy sauce and tempeh. Mushroom farming and mushroom gathering are large industries in many countries. Many fungi are producers of antibiotics, including β-lactam antibiotics such as penicillin and cephalosporin. Widespread use of these antibiotics for the treatment of bacterial diseases, such as tuberculosis, syphilis, leprosy, and many others began in the early 20th century and continues to play a major part in anti-bacterial chemotherapy. The study of the historical uses and sociological impact of fungi is known as ethnomycology.

Cultured foods

Baker's yeast or Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a single-cell fungus, is used in the baking of bread and other wheat-based products, such as pizza and dumplings. Several yeast species of the genus Saccharomyces are also used in the production of alcoholic beverages through fermentation. Mycelial fungi, such as the shoyu koji mold (Aspergillus oryzae), are used in the brewing of Shoyu (soy sauce) and preparation of tempeh. Quorn is a high-protein product made from the mold, Fusarium venenatum, and is used in vegetarian cooking.

Other human uses

Fungi are also used extensively to produce industrial chemicals like lactic acid, antibiotics and even to make stonewashed jeans. Several fungal species are ingested for their psychedelic properties, both recreationally and religiously (see main article, Psilocybin mushrooms).

Mycotoxins

Many fungi produce compounds with biological activity. Several of these compounds are toxic and are therefore called mycotoxins, referring to their fungal origin and toxic activity. Of particular relevance to humans are those mycotoxins that are produced by moulds causing food spoilage and poisonous mushrooms (see below). Particularly infamous are the aflatoxins, which are insidious liver toxins and highly carcinogenic metabolites produced by Aspergillus species often growing in or on grains and nuts consumed by humans, and the lethal amatoxins produced by mushrooms of the genus Amanita. Other notable mycotoxins include ochratoxins, patulin, ergot alkaloids, and trichothecenes and fumonisins, all of which have significant impact on human food supplies or animal livestock.

Mycotoxins belong to the group of secondary metabolites (or natural products). Originally, this group of compounds had been thought to be mere byproducts of primary metabolism, hence the name "secondary" metabolites. However, recent research has shown the existence of biochemical pathways solely for the purpose of producing mycotoxins and other natural products in fungi. Mycotoxins provide a number of fitness benefits to the fungi that produce them in terms of physiological adaptation, competition with other microbes and fungi, and protection from fungivory. These fitness benefits and the existence of dedicated biosynthetic pathways for mycotoxin production suggest that the mycotoxins are important for fungal persistence and survival.

Edible and poisonous fungi

Some of the best known types of fungi are the edible and the poisonous mushrooms. Many species are commercially raised, but others must be harvested from the wild. Agaricus bisporus, sold as button mushrooms when small or Portobello mushrooms when larger, are the most commonly eaten species, used in salads, soups, and many other dishes. Many Asian fungi are commercially grown and have gained in popularity in the West. They are often available fresh in grocery stores and markets, including straw mushrooms (Volvariella volvacea), oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus), shiitakes (Lentinula edodes), and enokitake (Flammulina spp.).

There are many more mushroom species that are harvested from the wild for personal consumption or commercial sale. Milk mushrooms, morels, chanterelles, truffles, black trumpets, and porcini mushrooms (Boletus edulis) (also known as king boletes) all demand a high price on the market. They are often used in gourmet dishes.

For certain types of cheeses, it is also a common practice to inoculate milk curds with fungal spores to foment the growth of specific species of mold that impart a unique flavor and texture to the cheese. This accounts for the blue colour in cheeses such as Stilton or Roquefort which is created using Penicillium roqueforti spores. Molds used in cheese production are usually non-toxic and are thus safe for human consumption; however, mycotoxins (e.g., aflatoxins, roquefortine C, patulin, or others) may accumulate due to fungal spoilage during cheese ripening or storage.

Many mushroom species are toxic to humans, with toxicities ranging from slight digestive problems or allergic reactions as well as hallucinations to severe organ failures and death. Some of the most deadly mushrooms belong to the genera Inocybe, Cortinarius, and most infamously, Amanita. The latter genus includes the destroying angel (A. virosa) and the death cap (A. phalloides), the most common cause of deadly mushroom poisoning. The false morel (Gyromitra esculenta) is considered a delicacy by some when cooked, yet can be highly toxic when eaten raw. Tricholoma equestre was considered edible until being implicated in some serious poisonings causing rhabdomyolysis.

Fly agaric mushrooms (A. muscaria) also cause occasional poisonings, mostly as a result of ingestion for use as a recreational drug for its hallucinogenic properties. Historically Fly agaric was used by Celtic Druids in Northern Europe and the Koryak people of north-eastern Siberia for religious or shamanic purposes. It is difficult to identify a safe mushroom without proper training and knowledge, thus it is often advised to assume that a mushroom in the wild is poisonous and not to consume it.

Fungi in the biological control of pests

In agricultural settings, fungi that actively compete for nutrients and space with, and eventually prevail over, pathogenic microorganisms, such as bacteria or other fungi, via the competitive exclusion principle, or are parasites of these pathogens, may be beneficial agents for human use. For example, some fungi may be used to suppress growth or eliminate harmful plant pathogens, such as insects, mites, weeds, nematodes and other fungi that cause diseases of important crop plants. This has generated strong interest in the use and practical application of these fungi for the biological control of these agricultural pests. Entomopathogenic fungi can be used as biopesticides, as they actively kill insects. Examples of fungi that have been used as biological insecticides are Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae, Hirsutella spp, Paecilomyces spp, and Verticillium lecanii. Endophytic fungi of grasses of the genus Neotyphodium, such as N. coenophialum produce alkaloids that are toxic to a range of invertebrate and vertebrate herbivores. These alkaloids protect the infected grass plants from herbivory, but some endophyte alkaloids can cause poisoning of grazing animals, such as cattle and sheep. Infection of grass cultivars of turf or forage grasses with isolates of the grass endophytes that produce only specific alkaloids to improve grass hardiness and resistance to herbivores such as insects, while being non-toxic to livestock, is being used in grass breeding programs.

Bioremediation

Certain fungi, in particular 'white rot' fungi, can degrade insecticides, herbicides, pentachlorophenol, creosote, coal tars, and heavy fuels and turn them into carbon dioxide, water, and basic elements. Research has recently discovered that fungi can be used to lock uranium into mineral form.

Ecology

Although often inconspicuous, fungi occur in every environment on Earth and play very important roles in most ecosystems. Along with bacteria, fungi are the major decomposers in most terrestrial (and some aquatic) ecosystems, and therefore play a critical role in biogeochemical cycles and in many food webs. As decomposers, they play an indispensable role in nutrient cycling, especially as saprotrophs and symbionts, degrading organic matter to inorganic molecules, which can then re-enter anabolic metabolic pathways in plants or other organisms.

Symbiosis

Many fungi have important symbiotic relationships with organisms from most if not all Kingdoms. These interactions can be mutualistic or antagonistic in nature, or in case of commensal fungi are of no apparent benefit or detriment to the host.

With plants

Mycorrhizal symbiosis between plants and fungi is one of the most well-known plant-fungus associations and is of significant importance for plant growth and persistence in many ecosystems; over 90% of all plant species engage in some kind of mycorrhizal relationship with fungi and are dependent upon this relationship for survival. The mycorrhizal symbiosis is ancient, dating to at least 400 million years ago. It often increases the plant's uptake of inorganic compounds, such as nitrate and phosphate from soils having low concentrations of these key plant nutrients. In some mycorrhizal associations, the fungal partners may mediate plant-to-plant transfer of carbohydrates and other nutrients. Such mycorrhizal communities are called "common mycorrhizal networks".

Lichens are formed by a symbiotic relationship between algae or cyanobacteria (referred to in lichens as "photobionts") and fungi (mostly various species of ascomycetes and a few basidiomycetes), in which individual photobiont cells are embedded in a tissue formed by the fungus. As in mycorrhizas, the photobiont provides sugars and other carbohydrates, while the fungus provides minerals and water. The functions of both symbiotic organisms are so closely intertwined that they function almost as a single organism.

With insects

Many insects also engage in mutualistic relationships with various types of fungi. Several groups of ants cultivate fungi in the order Agaricales as their primary food source, while ambrosia beetles cultivate various species of fungi in the bark of trees that they infest. Termites on the African Savannah are also known to cultivate fungi.

As pathogens and parasites

However, many fungi are parasites on plants, animals (including humans), and other fungi. Serious fungal pathogens of many cultivated plants causing extensive damage and losses to agriculture and forestry include the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, tree pathogens such as Ophiostoma ulmi and Ophiostoma novo-ulmi causing Dutch elm disease, and Cryphonectria parasitica responsible for chestnut blight, and plant-pathogenic fungi in the genera Fusarium, Ustilago, Alternaria, and Cochliobolus; Histoplasma, and Pneumocystis. Several pathogenic fungi are also responsible for relatively minor human diseases, such as athlete’s foot and ringworm. Some fungi are predators of nematodes, which they capture using an array of specialized structures, such as constricting rings or adhesive nets.

Nutrition and possible autotrophy

Growth of fungi as hyphae on or in solid substrates or single cells in aquatic environments is adapted to efficient extraction of nutrients from these environments, because these growth forms have high surface area to volume ratios. These adaptations in morphology are complemented by hydrolytic enzymes secreted into the environment for digestion of large organic molecules, such as polysaccharides, proteins, lipids, and other organic substrates into smaller molecules. These molecules are then absorbed as nutrients into the fungal cells.

Traditionally, the fungi are considered heterotrophs, organisms that rely solely on carbon fixed by other organisms for metabolism. Fungi have evolved a remarkable metabolic versatility that allows many of them to use a large variety of organic substrates for growth, including simple compounds as nitrate, ammonia, acetate, or ethanol. Recent research raises the possibility that some fungi utilize the pigment melanin to extract energy from ionizing radiation, such as gamma radiation for "radiotrophic" growth. It has been proposed that this process might bear some similarity to photosynthesis in plants, Fungi are unusual among the eukaryotes in having a cell wall that, besides glucans (e.g., β-1,3-glucan) and other typical components, contains the biopolymer chitin.

Many fungi grow as thread-like filamentous microscopic structures called hyphae, and an assemblage of intertwined and interconnected hyphae is called a mycelium. Hyphae can be septate, i.e., divided into hyphal compartments separated by a septum, each compartment containing one or more nuclei or can be coenocytic, i.e., lacking hyphal compartmentalization. However, septa have pores, such as the doliporus in the basidiomycetes that allow cytoplasm, organelles, and sometimes nuclei to pass through. In some cases, fungi have developed specialized structures for nutrient uptake from living hosts; examples include haustoria in plant-parasitic fungi of nearly all divisions, and arbuscules of several mycorrhizal fungi, which penetrate into the host cells for nutrient uptake by the fungus.

Macroscopic structures

Fungal mycelia can become visible macroscopically, for example, as concentric rings on various surfaces, such as damp walls, and on other substrates, such as spoilt food (see figure), and are commonly and generically called mould (American spelling, mold); fungal mycelia grown on solid agar media in laboratory petri dishes are usually referred to as colonies, with many species exhibiting characteristic macroscopic growth morphologies and colours, due to spores or pigmentation.

Specialized fungal structures important in sexual reproduction are the apothecia, perithecia, and cleistothecia in the ascomycetes, and the fruiting bodies of the basidiomycetes, and a few ascomycetes. These reproductive structures can sometimes grow very large, and are well known as mushrooms.

Morphological and physiological features for substrate penetration

Fungal hyphae are specifically adapted to growth on solid surfaces and within substrates, and can exert astoundingly large penetrative mechanical forces. The plant pathogen, Magnaporthe grisea, forms a structure called an appressorium specifically designed for penetration of plant tissues, and the pressure generated by the appressorium, which is directed against the plant epidermis can exceed 8 MPa (80 bars). The generation of these mechanical pressures is the result of an interplay between physiological processes to increase intracellular turgor by production of osmolytes such as glycerol, and the morphology of the appressorium.

Reproduction

Reproduction of fungi is complex, reflecting the heterogeneity in lifestyles and genetic make up within this group of organisms.

Most fungi have both a haploid and diploid stage in their life cycles. In all sexually reproducing fungi, compatible individuals combine by cell fusion of vegetative hyphae by anastomosis, required for the initiation of the sexual cycle. Ascomycetes and basidiomycetes go through a dikaryotic stage, in which the nuclei inherited from the two parents do not fuse immediately after cell fusion, but remain separate in the hyphal cells (see heterokaryosis).

In ascomycetes, dikaryotic hyphae of the hymenium form a characteristic hook at the hyphal septum. During cell division formation of the hook ensures proper distribution of the newly divided nuclei into the apical and basal hyphal compartments. An ascus (plural asci) is then formed, in which karyogamy (nuclear fusion) occurs. These asci are embedded in an ascocarp, or fruiting body, of the fungus. Karyogamy in the asci is followed immediately by meiosis and the production of ascospores. The ascospores are disseminated and germinate and may form a new haploid mycelium. The most commonly known basidiocarps are mushrooms, but they may also take many other forms (see Morphology section).

In zygomycetes, haploid hyphae of two individuals fuse, forming a zygote, which develops into a zygospore. When the zygospore germinates, it quickly undergoes meiosis, generating new haploid hyphae, which in turn may form asexual sporangiospores. These sporangiospores are means of rapid dispersal of the fungus and germinate into new genetically identical haploid fungal colonies, able to mate and undergo another sexual cycle followed by the generation of new zygospores, thus completing the lifecycle.

Spore dispersal

Both asexual and sexual spores or sporangiospores of many fungal species are actively dispersed by forcible ejection from their reproductive structures. This ejection ensures exit of the spores from the reproductive structures as well as travelling through the air over long distances. Many fungi thereby possess specialized mechanical and physiological mechanisms as well as spore-surface structures, such as hydrophobins, for spore ejection. These mechanisms include, for example, forcible discharge of ascospores enabled by the structure of the ascus and accumulation of osmolytes in the fluids of the ascus that lead to explosive discharge of the ascospores into the air. The forcible discharge of single spores termed ballistospores involves formation of a small drop of water (Buller's drop), which upon contact with the spore leads to its projectile release with an initial acceleration of more than 10,000 g. Other fungi rely on alternative mechanisms for spore release, such as external mechanical forces, exemplified by puffballs. Attracting insects, such as flies, to fruiting structures, by virtue of their having lively colours and a putrid odour, for dispersal of fungal spores is yet another strategy, most prominently used by the stinkhorns.

Other sexual processes

Besides regular sexual reproduction with meiosis, some fungal species may exchange genetic material via parasexual processes, initiated by anastomosis between hyphae and plasmogamy of fungal cells. The frequency and relative importance of parasexual events is unclear and may be lower than other sexual processes. However, it is known to play a role in intraspecific hybridization and is also likely required for hybridization between fungal species, which has been associated with major events in fungal evolution.

Phylogeny and classification

For a long time taxonomists considered fungi to be members of the Plant Kingdom. This early classification was based mainly on similarities in lifestyle: both fungi and plant are mainly sessile, have similarities in general morphology and growth habitat (like plants, fungi often grow in soil, in the case of mushrooms forming conspicuous fruiting bodies, which sometimes bear resemblance to plants such as mosses). Moreover, both groups possess a cell wall, which is absent in the Animal Kingdom. However, the fungi are now considered a separate kingdom, distinct from both plants and animals, from which they appear to have diverged approximately one billion years ago. Many studies have identified several distinct morphological, biochemical, and genetic features in the Fungi, clearly delineating this group from the other kingdoms. For these reasons, the fungi are placed in their own kingdom.

Physiological and morphological traits

Similar to animals and unlike most plants, fungi lack the capacity to synthesize organic carbon by chlorophyll-based photosynthesis; whereas plants store the reduced carbon as starch, fungi, like animals and some bacteria, use glycogen for storage of carbohydrates. A major component of the cell wall in many fungal species is the nitrogen-containing carbohydrate, chitin, also present in some animals, such as the insects and crustaceans, while the plant cell wall consists chiefly of the carbohydrate cellulose. The defining and unique characteristics of fungal cells include growth as hyphae, which are microscopic filaments of between 2-10 microns in diameter and up to several centimetres in length, and which combined form the fungal mycelium. Some fungi, such as yeasts, grow as single ovoid cells, similar to unicellular algae and the protists.

Unlike many plants, most fungi lack an efficient vascular system, such as xylem or phloem for long-distance transport of water and nutrients; as an example for convergent evolution, some fungi, such as Armillaria, form rhizomorphs or mycelial cords, resembling and functionally related to, but morphologically distinct from, plant roots.

Some characteristics shared between plants and fungi include the presence of vacuoles in the cell, and a similar pathway in the biosynthesis of terpenes using mevalonic acid and pyrophosphate as biochemical precursors; plants however use an additional terpene biosynthesis pathway in the chloroplasts that is apparently absent in fungi. Ancestral traits shared among members of the fungi include chitinous cell walls and heterotrophy by absorption.

Similar to plants, fungi produce a plethora of secondary metabolites functioning as defensive compounds or for niche adaptation; however, biochemical pathways for the synthesis of similar or even identical compounds often differ markedly between fungi and plants.

Evolutionary history

The first organisms having features typical of fungi date to , the Proterozoic. However, fungal fossils do not become common and uncontroversial until the early Devonian, when they are abundant in the Rhynie chert. For much of the Paleozoic Era, the fungi appear to have been aquatic, and consisted of organisms similar to the extant Chytrids in having flagellum-bearing spores. The early fossil record of the fungi is fragmentary, to say the least. The fungi probably colonized the land during the Cambrian, long before land plants. For some time after the Permian-Triassic extinction event, a fungal spike, originally thought to be an extraordinary abundance of fungal spores in sediments formed shortly after this event, suggested that they were the dominant life form during this period—nearly 100% of the fossil record available from this period. However, the relative proportion of fungal spores relative to spores formed by algal species is difficult to assess, the spike did not appear world-wide, and in many places it did not fall on the Permian-Triassic boundary.

Analyses using molecular phylogenetics support a monophyletic origin of the Fungi.

There is no unique generally accepted system at the higher taxonomic levels and there are constant name changes at every level, from species upwards. However, efforts among fungal researchers are now underway to establish and encourage usage of a unified and more consistent nomenclature.

The Blastocladiomycota were previously considered a taxonomic clade within the Chytridiomycota. Recent molecular data and ultrastructural characteristics, however, place the Blastocladiomycota as a sister clade to the Zygomycota, Glomeromycota, and Dikarya (Ascomycota and Basiomycota). The blastocladiomycetes are fungi that are saprotrophs and parasites of all eukaryotic groups and undergo sporic meiosis unlike their close relatives, the chytrids, which mostly exhibit zygotic meiosis.
Members of the Glomeromycota are fungi forming arbuscular mycorrhizae with higher plants. Only one species has been observed forming zygospores; all other species solely reproduce asexually. The symbiotic association between the Glomeromycota and plants is ancient, with evidence dating to 400 million years ago.

Notes and references

External links

The WWW Virtual Library: Mycology
MykoWeb
Illinois Mycological Association Mycological Glossary
Tree of Life web project: Fungi
Fungal Biology, University of Sydney, School of Biological Sciences, June, 2004. – Online textbook
The Fifth Kingdom – Online textbook
CABI Bioscience Databases - Includes Index Fungorum genus and species names and top-down hierarchy
Comparative Analysis of Fungal Genomes (at DOE's IMG system)
Fungi Bioluminescence Laboratory - Chemistry Institute, University of São Paulo, Brazil

fungus in Arabic: فطر

fungus in Asturian: Fungi

fungus in Bengali: ছত্রাক

fungus in Min Nan: Ko͘

fungus in Bulgarian: Гъби

fungus in Catalan: Fong

fungus in Chuvash: Кăмпа

fungus in Czech: Houby

fungus in Welsh: Ffwng

fungus in Danish: Svampe

fungus in German: Pilze

fungus in Estonian: Seened

fungus in Modern Greek (1453-): Μύκητας

fungus in Spanish: Fungi

fungus in Esperanto: Fungoj

fungus in French: Mycota

fungus in Irish: Fungas

fungus in Korean: 균계

fungus in Hindi: कवक

fungus in Upper Sorbian: Hriby

fungus in Croatian: Gljive

fungus in Indonesian: Fungi

fungus in Icelandic: Sveppur

fungus in Italian: Funghi

fungus in Hebrew: פטריות

fungus in Latin: Fungi

fungus in Latvian: Sēnes

fungus in Luxembourgish: Pilzeräich

fungus in Lithuanian: Grybai

fungus in Hungarian: Gombák

fungus in Macedonian: Габа

fungus in Malay (macrolanguage): Kulat

fungus in Dutch: Schimmels

fungus in Japanese: 菌類

fungus in Norwegian: Sopper

fungus in Norwegian Nynorsk: Sopp

fungus in Occitan (post 1500): Mycota

fungus in Low German: Poggenstöhl

fungus in Polish: Grzyby

fungus in Portuguese: Fungi

fungus in Romanian: Regn Fungi

fungus in Quechua: K'allampa

fungus in Russian: Грибы

fungus in Sicilian: Funci

fungus in Simple English: Fungus

fungus in Slovak: Huby

fungus in Slovenian: Glive

fungus in Serbian: Гљиве

fungus in Finnish: Sienet

fungus in Swedish: Svampar

fungus in Tamil: பூஞ்சைகள்

fungus in Thai: เห็ดรา

fungus in Vietnamese: Nấm

fungus in Turkish: Mantar

fungus in Ukrainian: Гриб

fungus in Walloon: Tchampion

fungus in Yiddish: פאנגוס

fungus in Samogitian: Kremblē

fungus in Chinese: 真菌

Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words

adenovirus, aerobe, aerobic bacteria, amoeba, amphibian, anaerobe, anaerobic bacteria, angiosperm, annual, aquatic plant, bacillus, bacteria, bacterium, benign tumor, biennial, blast, blight, bread mold, bug, callosity, callus, cancer, canker, carcinoma, coccus, corn, cosmopolite, cutting, cyst, deciduous plant, dicot, dicotyledon, disease-producing microorganism, dry rot, echovirus, enterovirus, ephemeral, ergot, evergreen, excrescence, exotic, filterable virus, flowering plant, fungosity, gametophyte, germ, gram-negative bacteria, gram-positive bacteria, green mold, growth, gymnosperm, hydrophyte, intumescence, malignant growth, metastatic tumor, microbe, microorganism, mildew, mold, mole, monocot, monocotyl, morbid growth, moth, moth and rust, mushroom, must, neoplasm, nevus, nonfilterable virus, nonmalignant tumor, outgrowth, pathogen, perennial, pest, picornavirus, plant, polycot, polycotyl, polycotyledon, protozoa, protozoon, proud flesh, puffball, reovirus, rhinovirus, rickettsia, rot, rust, sarcoma, seed plant, seedling, slime mold, smut, spermatophyte, spirillum, spirochete, spore, sporophyte, staphylococcus, streptococcus, thallophyte, tinea, toadstool, triennial, truffle, trypanosome, tuckahoe, tumor, vascular plant, vegetable, verruca, verticillium, vibrio, virus, wart, water mold, weed, wen, worm, yeast

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