Three Reasons Fungi Are Not Plants | ASM.org
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Fungi are more closely related to us than they are to plants. Yet, fungi have been grouped with plants historically, with an impact felt even today.
  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldEnglish
    301·
    1 day ago

    DNA sequencing is not necessary:

    There are major overlapping characteristics shared by fungi and animals that plants do not have, said John Walker, a professor at Appalachian State University who studies fungi.

    For example, both mushrooms and humans store carbohydrate energy as glycogen, while plants use starch to store energy. Both fungi and insects use the polysaccharide chitin to build cell walls, while plants use cellulose. And mushrooms, like humans, produce vitamin D when exposed to sunlight.

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2023/02/27/fact-check-mushrooms-share-more-dna-humans-than-plants/11339411002/

    • MonkderVierte@lemmy.mlEnglish
      5·
      1 day ago

      Was vitamin D and polysaccharide already a thing when fungi came to be?

      There’s new research that micorhiza was the first to settle on land, preparing the ground for plants, some 500 million years ago.