Difference Between Septate and Aseptate Hyphae

Thekey differencebetween septate and aseptate hyphae is thatseptate hyphae have septa or cross walls that divide hyphae into distinct cells while aseptate hyphae lack septa.

Hyphae are long filament or thread-like structures of fungi. Hyphae represent the vegetative structure of fungi.Myceliumis the collection of hyphae of a fungus. Fungal hyphae consist of cells surrounded by acell wallmade from chitin. In order to separate cells within thehyphae, there are perforated cross-walls called septa. But, septa are not present in hyphae of all fungi. Therefore, based on the presence and absence of septa, hyphae have two types: septate hyphae and aseptate hyphae.

CONTENTS

1.Overview and Key Difference
2.What are Septate Hyphae
3.What are Aseptate Hyphae
4.Similarities Between Septate and Aseptate Hyphae
5.Side by Side Comparison – Septate vs Aseptate Hyphae in Tabular Form
6.Summary

What are Septate Hyphae?

Septate hyphae are fungal mycelia that contain cross walls or septa inside the hyphae. Due to the presence of septa, there are separate nucleated cells in the septate hyphae. Septa are perforated. Hence, molecules, organelles and cytoplasms move between cellular compartments of septate hyphae.

Many fungi ofbasidiomycetes and ascomycetesare septate fungi. Especially,Aspergillusis one fungal genus that constitutes of septate fungi.

What are Aseptate Hyphae?

Aseptate hyphae, also calledCoenocytic hyphae是真菌菌丝,没有隔膜。因此,partitions or distinct cells are not present in aseptate hyphae. Due to the absence of cross walls, there are many nuclei together in aseptate hyphae. Thus, aseptate hyphae are generally multinucleated.

Primitive fungi mostly possess aseptate hyphae. Zygomycetes fungi are aseptate fungi. Furthermore,MucorandPythiumare two more genera of aseptate fungi.

What are the Similarities Between Septate and Aseptate Hyphae?

• Both septate and aseptate hyphae are seen in fungi.
• They have cell walls made up of chitin.
• They are branched long structures.
• Moreover, they are nucleated structures.
• Within them, there are organelles and cytoplasms.

What is the Difference Between Septate and Aseptate Hyphae?

Septate hyphae consist of septa between cellular compartments while aseptate hyphae lack septa or cross walls. So, this is the key difference between septate and aseptate hyphae. Furthermore, septate hyphae are an advanced form of hyphae which is at low risk of damaging the entire fungus upon damage to a hypha while aseptate hyphae are a form of primitive hyphae that is at a higher risk of damaging the entire fungus upon damage to a hypha. Therefore, this is also a difference between septate and aseptate hyphae.

Moreover, a further difference between septate and aseptate hyphae is that the fungi belonging to the classes Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes are mainly septate fungi while the fungi belonging to class Zygomycetes are aseptate fungi.

Summary – Septate vs Aseptate Hyphae

Hyphae are the vegetative structures or building blocks of fungi. They collectively form the mycelium of a fungus. Septate hyphae and aseptate hyphae are two types of hyphae based on the presence and absence of cross walls called septa. Septate hyphae have septa while aseptate hyphae lack septa. Hence, septate hyphae consist of cellular compartments or distinct cells, while aseptate hyphae lack partitions or distinct cells.Aspergillusis a good example of septate fungus whileMucoris a good example for aseptate fungus. Therefore, this is the summary of the difference between septate and aseptate hyphae.

Reference:

1. “Hypha.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Dec. 2018,Available here.
2. “Septate vs Non-Septate Hyphae.” Biology Dictionary, 25 Apr. 2019,Available here.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Septate hyphae of the fungus Alternaria sp” By Tashkoskip – Own work(CC BY-SA 4.0)viaCommons Wikimedia
2. “No septate hyphae, oogonia and antheridia of the pathogen Pythium debaryanum” By Tashkoskip – Own work,(CC BY-SA 4.0)viaCommons Wikimedia