Short Answer TypeA virus is considered as a living organism and an obligate parasite when inside a host cell. But virus is not classified along with bacteria or fungi. What are the characters of virus that are similar to non-living objects?
Mohan has observed that the water-logged areas in his neighbourhood produce a particular odour.
(a) Name the gas that is produced by the marshy areas and the microorganisms responsible for that.
(b) Could this gas be an environmental threat? Why?
Some people in the village fell sick after eating mushrooms which they collected from the forest. What could be the cause of their sickness? What advice would you give them to avoid such incidences in future?
An epidemic of chickenpox in the village made people panic and do special offerings to the deity. As a student of biology, how would you make them realise that the disease is not caused due to the displeasure of the gods?
There is a myth that immediately after heavy rains in forest, mushrooms appear in large number and make a very large ring or circle, which may be several metres in diameter. These are called as ‘Fairy rings’. Can you explain this myth of fairy rings in biological terms?
The mycelium of a fungus/mushroom growing in the ground absorbs nutrients by secretion of enzymes from the tips of the hyphae (threads making up the mycelium). This breaks down larger molecules in the soil into smaller molecules that are then absorbed through the walls of the hyphae near their growing tips. The mycelium moves outward from the center when the nutrients in the center are exhausted. The center dies, thereby forming a living ring. These rings are known as fairy rings especially in Europe.
Neurospora - an ascomycetes fungus has been used as a biological tool to understand the mechanism of plant genetics much in the same way as Drosophila has been used to study animal genetics. What makes Neurospora so important as a genetic tool?
Cyanobacteria and heterotrophic bacteria have been clubbed together in Eubacteria of kingdom Monera as per the “Five Kingdom Classification” even though the two are vastly different from each other. Is this grouping of the two types of taxa in the same kingdom justified? If so, why?
At a stage of their cycle, ascomycetes fungi produce the fruiting bodies like apothecium, perithecium or cleistothecium. How are these three types of fruiting bodies different from each other?
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