1. Decomposition - nutrient and carbon recycling.
2. Biosynthetic factories. The fermentation property is used for the industrial production of alcohols, fats, citric,oxalic and gluconic acids.
3. Important sources of antibiotics, such as Penicillin.
4. Model organisms for biochemical and genetic studies. Eg: Neurospora crassa
5. Saccharomyces cerviciae is extensively used in recombinant DNA technology, which includes the Hepatitis B Vaccine.
6. Some fungi are edible (mushrooms).
7. Yeasts provide nutritional supplements such as vitamins and cofactors.
8. Penicillium is used to flavour Roquefort and Camembert cheeses.
9. Ergot produced by Claviceps purpurea contains medically important alkaloids that help in inducing uterine contractions, controlling bleeding and treating migraine.
10. Fungi (Leptolegnia caudate and Aphanomyces laevis) are used to trap mosquito larvae in paddy fields and thus help in malaria control.


1. Destruction of food, lumber, paper, and cloth.
2. Animal and human diseases, including allergies.
3. Toxins produced by poisonous mushrooms and within food (Mycetism and Mycotoxicosis).
4. Plant diseases.
5. Spoilage of agriculture produce such as vegetables and cereals in the godown.
6. Damage the products such as magnetic tapes and disks, glass lenses, marble statues, bones and wax.


1. They are eukaryotic; cells contain membrane bound cell organelles including nuclei, mitochondria, golgi
apparatus, endoplasmic reticulum, lysosomes etc. They also exhibit mitosis.
2. Have ergosterols in their membranes and possesses 80S ribosomes.
3. Have a rigid cell wall and are therefore non-motile, a feature that separates them from animals. All fungi
possess cell wall made of chitin.
4. Are chemoheterotrophs (require organic compounds for both carbon and energy sources) and fungi lack
chlorophyll and are therefore not autotrophic.
5. Fungi are osmiotrophic; they obtain their nutrients by absorption.
6. They obtain nutrients as saprophytes (live off of decaying matter) or as parasites (live off of living matter).
7. All fungi require water and oxygen and there are no obligate anaerobes.
8. Typically reproduce asexually and/or sexually by producing spores.
9. They grow either reproductively by budding or non-reproductively by hyphal tip elongation.
10. Food storage is generally in the form of lipids and glycogen.


Fungi were initially classified with plants and were a subject of interest for botanists; hence the influence of botany can be seen on their classification. In 1969 R.H Whittaker classified all living organisms into five kingdoms namely Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae and Animalia.


Traditionally the classification proceeds in this fashion:

Kingdom -
Subkingdom -
Phyla/phylum -
Subphyla -
Class -
Order -
Family -
Genus-
Species

This classification is too complicated to be dealt here.
There are alternate and more practical approaches, one based on sexual reproduction and the other based on morphology of the thallus (vegetative structure).