What is the difference between fungi and protists

There are mainly three types of protists that are protozoans, algae, and mould. The protozoans are animal-like protists.

They can engulf their food particles and digest to obtain the nutrients. The protozoans can move with the help of flagella and pseudopodia present in them. Algae are mostly unicellular and autotrophic.

They are plant-like organisms. They are chlorophyll in their cell through which they can do photosynthesis. Moulds are mainly fungus-like organisms, multi-cellular eukaryotes. They use the saprophytic mode of nutrition to lead their living. Mostly depend on the dead and decaying leaves. They are a giant amount in the category of protists. Some examples of protists are Dinoflagellets, Euglenoids, etc. Their cell wall is made up of chitin and polysaccharides.

These animals cannot prepare their food and have to depend on other sources, which is they are heterotrophs. Fungi can reproduce both by sexual and asexual mode. The asexual mode of reproduction occurs via pores formation, whereas the sexual mode of reproduction occurs via mating. They mostly adapt to the heterotrophic mode of nutrition. They cannot make their food due to the absence of chlorophyll in them.

They also adapt the saprophytic mode of nutrition. That is, they depend on the dead and decaying matters to obtain their required nutrients. Some fungi also remain in a symbiotic relationship with other organisms or plants to take nutrients. Large Protists have an elongated shape to accommodate their increased need for oxygen diffusion [3].

The unicellular protists are mostly microscopic but rare examples have been found thousands of square meters in area [3]. Fungi are commonly large enough to be observed by the naked eye but a large number of microscopic species exist [1]. Protists can contain plant-like cell walls, animal-like cell walls and even pellicles providing protection from the external environment [3].

Many Protists do not have a cell wall [3]. In contrast to Protist cell membrane variety, a defining characteristic of fungi is the ubiquitous presence of a chitinous cell wall [14]. Fungi are comprised of convoluted system of hyphae compartmentalized by a partitioning system of septa [1]. Septa have not been found in any Protists [3]. Fungal septa divide hyphae into permeable compartments [1]. Perforation of the septa allow translocation of organelles including ribosomes, mitochondria and nuclei between cells [3].

Protist organelles exist in a non compartmentalized cytoplasm [3]. Unlike the mostly stationary Fungi, protists are motile [1,3] and this motility differentiates Protists morphologically from fungi by the addition of cellular appendages. Protists frequently contain appendages like cilia, flagella and pseudopodia [3].

Fungi generally do not have cellular appendages though rare examples of conidial appendages in fungi do exist [4]. Protists obtain oxygen by diffusion and this limits their capacity for cellular growth [3]. Some Protists like the phytoflagellates carry out both autotrophic and oxidative heterotrophic metabolism [3]. Protist metabolism functions optimally through a wide range of temperatures and oxygen consumption quantities.

This is a by-product of the plethora of niches they inhabit, which have a vast range of temperatures and oxygen availability [3]. Obligatory anaerobic respiration exists among parasitic Protists, a rarity for eukaryotes [3]. Many obligate anaerobe Protists lack cytochrome oxidase resulting in atypical mitochondria [3]. Most Fungi respire aerobically by utilizing branched respiratory chains to transfer electrons from NADH to oxygen [5].

Fungal NADH dehydrogenases are used to catalyze oxidation of matrix NADH and are capable of doing so even in the presence of some inhibitors like rotenone [5]. Fungi also use alternative oxidases to respire in the presence of inhibitors for ubiquinol:cytochrome c oxidoreductase and cytochrome c oxidase [5]. Alternative oxidases likely enable effective pathogenicity in the presence of nitric oxide-based host defense mechanisms [5]. Protists that inhabit aqueous environment have an amplification of cellular structures not found in fungi.

This amplification enables a higher degree of osmoregulation. Contractile vacuoles are Protist organelles that enable osmoregulation and prevent swelling and cell rupture [3]. Contractile vacuoles are surrounded by a system of tubules and vesicles collectively called the spongiome that assists in expulsion of the contractile vacuoles from the cell [3]. Contractile vacuoles are significantly less abundant in Fungi [1,3]. Unlike Fungi, protist mitochondrial mt genomes have retained a number of ancestral proto-mitochondrian genomic elements.

This is evident by gene reduction in Fungi mtGenomes [6]. Protist mtGenomes range in size from the 6kb genome of Plasmodium falciparum to the 77kb genome of the choanoflagellate Monosiga brevicollis , a smaller range than Fungi [6].

The average Protist mtGenome size is 40kb significantly smaller than the average Fungal mitochondrial genome size [6]. Protist mtGenomes are compact, exon rich and often comprised of overlapping coding regions [6]. Fungi evolved from Protists and their divergence is characterized by gene reduction and intron addition [6].

Compared to the gene rich Protist mtGenomes, Fungal mtGenomes contain a plethora of intergenic regions comprised of non-coding repeats and introns that are mostly group I introns [7]. Variation in Fungal mtGenome size is mostly explained by intron regions rather than the gene based variance found in Protist mtGenomes [7]. Intergenic regions account for up to 5kb of length in Fungal mtGenomes [7]. Fungal mtGenome sizes span a larger range compared to Protist mtGenomes. The smallest known Fungal mtGenome is 19 kbp, found in Schizosaccharomyces pombe [6].

The largest known Fungal mtGenome is kbp, found in Podospora anserina [6]. Fungi use mycelium, their collection of hyphae, to acquire and transport nutrients across the plasma membrane of their cells [2].

This process is highly dependent on the pH of the environment from which the nutrients are acquired [2]. Fungi are saprotrophs, acquiring their nutrients primarily from the dissolved organic matter of decomposing dead plants and animals [1]. Are more related to animals than plant kingdom. Although most people think one difference between animals and fungi is that fungi are immobile, some fungi are motile.

The real difference is that fungi contain a molecule called beta-glucan, a type of fiber, in their cell walls. While all fungi share some common characteristics, they can be broken into groups. They are similar to animal cells in that fungal cells have centrioles, the structures that organize the spindle during mitosis. Like plants, fungi have a cell wall but it is composed of chitin, a polymer of n-acetyl glucosamine, rather than cellulose, a polymer of glucose.

Fungi , like animals , are heterotrophs. Fungi play a crucial role in the balance of ecosystems. In these environments, fungi play a major role as decomposers and recyclers, making it possible for members of the other kingdoms to be supplied with nutrients and to live. The food web would be incomplete without organisms that decompose organic matter. Inside the cells, we find that human cells and plant cells contain six identical organelles or active components which include cell membranes, mitochondria and the nucleus.

The presence of mitochondria means that both plants and humans have cellular respiration. The way humans and plants absorb food is similar. What are the similarities and differences between fungi and protists? Category: science biological sciences. Protista and fungi are lower level organisms, which are classified into the kingdom Protista and Fungi , respectively. Protozoans, algae and molds are the three types of protists.

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