Ascomycota have reproductive structures that are made of dikaryotic hyphae, but unlike Basidiomycota, they form asci on their ends, not basidia. Now, asci are spore-producing structures, and they specifically produce 8 haploid spores, called ascospores, and these asci, that is, are contained within an ascocarp, which is the fruiting body of Ascomycota. And you might recall from the first video on fungi that we looked at a morel mushroom. Well, that's an example of an ascocarp. So, the basidiocarps and ascocarps are the mushrooms that we're normally eating when we eat mushrooms. And again, those are the reproductive structures of fungi, not the main fungal body, the mycelium.
Now, looking at Ascomycota reproduction, we actually will form the ascus. You can see the initial ascus there. We have the 2 cells, they'll fuse to form the zygote, and then we'll have a series of cell divisions. You don't really need to worry about the specifics of all of that, but through a series of cell divisions, we go from having a diploid zygote to 8 haploid spores. You can see those all here, and they are contained in the ascus sac. And the ascus itself really is kind of like a sac, and that's why these are sometimes called sac fungi. And what's kind of crazy about these ascus sacs is when the spores are ready to go, these ascus sacs, which unlike basidia, remember basidia hang down there on the external surface of the basidiocarp. These asci are actually inside the ascocarp and these spores will be forcibly ejected from this sac. So, they burst forth and are spread that way. And of course, the ascospores will germinate, turn into hyphae. And these hyphae can actually also reproduce asexually. And when they reproduce asexually, they form spores called conidia. And what's interesting is these conidia, as you can see happening here and here, these conidia can actually also be involved in sexual reproduction. So, they can fertilize another fungus of a different mating type, or they can germinate and turn into hyphae in an asexual reproductive process.
Alright. That's all I have for fungal reproduction. I'll see you guys next time.
