Key Points on Deuteromycetes
- Deurteromycetes is an artificial class of fungi that includes all those fungi in which the sexual stage is not known.
- Some of the Deuteromycetes are unicellular like yeasts and are often studied along with the latter.
- Asexual reproduction mainly occurs by conidia along with some other types of spores (like oidia and chlamydospores).
- It is believed that most members of Deuteromycetes are actually ascomycetes in which sexual reproduction is absent.
- Some members are saprophytes or parasites while a large number of them are decomposers of litter and help in mineral cycling.
Deuteromycetes
In earlier systems of classification, only habit or external morphological characters were considered the sole basis of classification. But later on, organisms were classified on the basis of their natural affinities and finally on the basis of phylogeny (evolutionary tendencies). Many systems of classification were devised from time to time. The five-kingdom system of classification proposed by R.H. Whittaker in 1969 is widely accepted and includes kingdoms Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia.