Biology / Unit 9 Bio 2039 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Zygomycota
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The idea
Zygomycota, the conjugated fungi, have coenocytic hyphae, and reproduce sexually by forming a thick-walled zygospore from two compatible mating strains.
In practice
Bread mold, Rhizopus stolonifer, forms black, spore-packed sporangia asexually, and forms zygospores sexually when two opposite mating strains meet.
Where people slip
A zygospore's thick wall lets it survive unfavorable conditions dormant— sexual reproduction in this phylum is a stress response, not a routine event.
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