Unseen and unsung heroes: The microbes
Abstract
Fungi are larger microorganisms and their bodies are mostly filamentous, the filaments being called hyphae. It is now believed that fungi evolved from an ancestor that was also common to animals. The width of the fungal hyphae is just about 3 to 5 microns, while their lengths can be indeterminate. Fungi are next only to bacteria in terms of their metabolic versatility, but they lack several capabilities that are present in the latter. Thus, fungi are mostly aerobic and are always heterotrophic. The special feature of fungi, however, is their ability to produce apically growing hyphae, conferring upon them the special capability of penetrating deep into solid organic material. Like bacteria, fungi can grow on almost all natural organic compounds.
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