Basidiomycota

Basidiomycota is a major fungal phylum whose members typically produce sexual spores on specialized cells called basidia. It includes mushrooms, rusts, smuts, and many wood-decaying fungi.

Basidium: A specialized fungal cell on which basidiospores are typically produced. This spore-bearing cell gives the phylum its defining reproductive structure.
Plasmogamy: The fusion of fungal cell contents without immediate fusion of their nuclei. It begins the paired-nucleus stage common in basidiomycete sexual cycles.
Mycorrhiza: A mutually beneficial association between a fungus and a plant root. Many basidiomycetes exchange soil nutrients for plant-derived carbon in these partnerships.
Ascomycota: A major fungal phylum whose sexual spores typically form inside saclike asci. Ascomycota is the other large Dikarya phylum, distinguished by spores formed inside asci.
Basidiospore: A sexual spore produced externally on a basidium. Basidiospores are the characteristic sexual propagules of most members.
Clamp connection: A hook-shaped hyphal bridge that helps distribute paired nuclei during cell division. In many basidiomycetes, clamps preserve the dikaryotic state as hyphae grow.
Wood-decay fungus: A fungus that decomposes wood by breaking down its structural polymers. Basidiomycetes include major decomposers that return wood-bound nutrients to ecosystems.
Mucoromycota: A fungal phylum that includes many molds and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Its members generally lack the basidia that define typical basidiomycete sexual reproduction.
Dikaryon: A fungal cell state containing two genetically distinct haploid nuclei. Many basidiomycetes maintain paired nuclei through much of their life cycle.
Karyogamy: The fusion of two nuclei to form one diploid nucleus. Nuclear fusion occurs in the basidium before meiosis in typical sexual cycles.

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