Hypha
A tubular cell or chain, often 2–10 µm wide, that branches into a mycelium.
A hyphal tip is a construction site: vesicles deliver wall material while turgor pushes into new territory. Behind the tip, septa and pores manage traffic.
Sexual cycles in Ascomycota and Basidiomycota produce asci or basidia. Many species also clone themselves for years without a mushroom.
Parts
Yeast cell
Typically 3–5 µm. Saccharomyces cerevisiae became the first eukaryotic genome in 1996.
Chitin wall
A stress-bearing mesh. Echinocandin drugs target glucan synthesis in some pathogens — clinic, not kitchen chemistry.
Spitzenkörper
A vesicle organising centre at many hyphal tips, visible in textbooks as the growth engine.
Fruiting body
Mushroom, morel, puffball — temporary spore towers. The durable self is usually underground or in wood.
Ergosterol membrane
Fungal membranes use ergosterol, not cholesterol. Azole medicines exploit that difference in invasive disease.
Life cycle
1Spore landing
A spore meets moisture and a usable carbon source. Most landings fail.
2Vegetative growth
Hyphae or budding yeasts claim the resource. Competition with bacteria is chemical as well as spatial.
3Fruiting or sporulation
Starvation, light and mating types can trigger mushrooms or conidia. Timing is ecology.
4Dispersal
Wind, rain splash, insects. A new patch of wood or a new host starts the map again.
When a loaf moulds, you are watching sporulation after the invisible network already ate the crumb.
Keep exploring
More in Tree of microbes
Bacteria
Single-celled prokaryotes with cell walls ? the oldest widespread life form, and both partners and pathogens.
Familiarity 95Viruses
Packets of DNA or RNA that are not cells — they replicate only inside living hosts.
Familiarity 96Archaea
A prokaryotic domain that is not bacteria — methanogens, extremophiles and no known human pathogens.
Familiarity 35Bacteriophages
Viruses that infect bacteria — Earth's most abundant biological entities, and a concept-level idea in medicine.
Familiarity 42Protozoa
Motile unicellular eukaryotes — a teaching grade that includes pond ciliates and a minority of serious parasites.
Familiarity 58