Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species.The defining feature of this fungal group is the "ascus" (from Ancient Greek ἀσκός (askós) 'sac, wineskin'), a microscopic sexual structure in which nonmotile spores, called ascospores, are formed. However, some species of the Ascomycota are asexual, meaning that they do not have a sexual cycle and thus do not form asci or ascospores. Familiar examples of sac fungi include morels, truffles, brewers' and bakers' yeast, dead man's fingers, and cup fungi. The fungal symbionts in the majority of lichens (loosely termed "ascolichens") such as Cladonia belong to the Ascomycota. Ascomycota is a monophyletic group (it contains all descendants of one common ancestor). Previously placed in the Deuteromycota along with asexual species from other fungal taxa, asexual (or anamorphic) ascomycetes are now identified and classified based on morphological or physiological similarities to ascus-bearing taxa, and by phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequences.

1. ASCOMYCETES –
LOCULOASCOMYCETES

2. ASCOMYCETES – INTRODUCTION
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS :-
Ascomycetes are commonly called as the sac fungi.
Ascomycetes are haploid fungi.
The mycelium is branched and septate with each segment having several nuclei.
The ascomycetes have dikaryon phase in the life cycle.
The female gametangium is called as the ascogonium and the male gametangium is known as
the antheridium.
The spores are produced inside a small sac like structure called ascus. The spores produced by
the ascus are called as the ascospores. The ascus contains 8 ascospores.
The ascus becomes grouped to form the multicellular fruiting body called ascocarp which is
enveloped by a sheath of sterile hyphae.

3. CONTI…
There are three types of ascocarps:-
1. Cleistothecium
2. Perithecium
3. Apothecium
Ascomycetes members contain both the saprotrophs and parasite fungus.
Ascomycetes reproduce by vegetative, asexual and sexual means.
Asexual reproduction occurs by fission, fragmentation, chlamydospores or conidia formation.
Conidia arise from the somatic hyphae or the hyphal branches known as the conidiophores.
Sexual reproduction occurs by means of fusion of similar or dissimilar hyphae or cells.
The ascospores are formed by karyogamy and meiosis.

4. CLASSIFICATION OF ASCOMYCETES
On the basis of on the presence and absence of fruiting bodies, the group is usually divided into the
following two sub-classes :-
 Hemiascomycetes :- Ascocarps are absent and asci is naked. This sub-class has been
divided into the 3 orders.
1. Protomycetales
2. Endomycetales
3. Taphrinales
 Euascomycetes :- Asci develop in the fruiting bodies. This sub-class has been divided into
following 5 series.
1. Plectomycetes
2. Pyrenomycetes
3. Loculoascomycetes
4. Laboulbenimycetes
5. Discomycetes

5. LOCULOASCOMYCETES
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS :-
 The series Loculoascomycetes is characterized by producing their asci in ascostroma.
An ascostroma is a locule that forms in a stroma where the asci are borne.
This differs from a perithecium that is formed within a stroma in that a perithecial wall is formed by the
perithecium that delimits it from the stroma. Such a wall layer is absent in the Loculoascomycetes.
Asci in this series are said to be bitunicate.
 This differs from a unitunicate ascus in that the endoascus will grow through the outer layer, the exoascus, and
extends beyond it through the open pore at the tip of the exoascus. This type of ascus has also been referred to as
the jack-in-the-box ascus.
Paraphyses may also occur in this series.
The example is the genus Leptosphaerulina. The ascostroma in this genus is very difficult to distinguish from
perithecial species of Pyrenomycetes because it is a uniloculate ascostroma. However, if examined, microscopically,
this genus can be observed to have a bitunicate ascus, a characteristic of the
Loculoascomycetes series of Ascomycota.

7. ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION
By formation of conidia :-
1. These are exogenous and non-motile spores which are produced on the tip of conidiophores.
They may be branched or unbranched and unicellular or multicellular
2. Conidiogenesis occurs in two ways which appear to be distinct :- Blastic and Thallic
3. Blastic - The conidium develops by the blowing-out of the wall of a cell, mostly from the tip of
a hypha
4. Thallic - This occurs by conversion of a pre-existing hyphal element in which terminal or
intercalary cells of a hypha become cut off by septa.
Other spore formations like oidia or chlamydospores :- This may occur in some species.

8. SEXUAL REPRODUCTION
• Ascomycota have male and female gametangia in their haploid stage ie. Antheridium
and ascogonium respectively.
• Gametangial copulation
• gametangial contact
• plasmogamy– A single cell with two haploid nuclei. This creates a binucleate, dikaryotic
condition in the ascogonium leading to karyogamy
• karyogamy– at the tip of the hyphae the nuclear fusion takes place
• diploid nucleus immediately undergoes meiosis followed by mitosis resulting in 8
haploid nuclei. Each nuclei accumulate cytoplasm, secrete a wall around it develop into
an ascospore.

9. LIFE CYCLE
Loculoascomycetes changes in form
depending on which part of their life cycle
they are in and whether they are
undergoing asexual or sexual
reproduction. Asexual reproduction means
, the reproduction without joining of
genetic information from two parents. On
the other hand, sexual reproduction
means, the reproduction that occurs from
joining genetic information from two
individuals of the opposite sex. The life
cycle of loculoacsomycetes is largely
divided by thye types of reproduction, they
are going to take part in.

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