four major types of fungi that exist: the Zygomycota, the Ascomycota, the Basidiomycota, and the Oomycota.
The units that make up a Zygomycota, or conjugation fungi, mycelium are anchored to the ground via rhizoid hyphae, which also serve to absorb nutrients, are connected to each other by stolon hyphae, and each have sporangiophore hyphae that bear spherical sporangia at the end of their stalk. The sporangia produce thousands of asexual, non-flagellated spores. After being dispersed, the spores germinate and give rise to new mycelia, thus completing the asexual reproduction cycle. Zygomycota also reproduce sexually. Where two branches from hyphae of different sexes join together, gametes (no morphological differences exist between the two sexes' gametes) form and fuse creating a diploid zygote. When the zygote germinates, it undergoes meiosis to produce a haploid sporangium. The sporangium, in turn, produces and releases asexual spores that grow into new mycelia, thus completing the sexual reproduction cycle.
Ascomycota, or sac fungi, range from unicellular yeasts to multicellular cap fungi. During sexual reproduction, all Ascomycota produce an ascus, a structure that is formed from the cell wall of the zygote and that contains four to eight haploid spores. The spores in an ascus are formed when two gametes, morphologically indistinguishable from each other, from hyphae of different sexes unite to produce a diploid zygote. The zygote undergoes meiosis to create four haploid cells; in some
