Question

What is dikaryotic?

Answer 1

Fungi are organisms that are classified into a separate kingdom known as Kingdom Fungi. They are eukaryotic organisms that are saprophytic. Members of the kingdom undergo both sexual as well as asexual modes of reproduction.

Complete answer:
The presence of Dikaryon is a feature of the nucleus and is the characteristic of certain fungal members. When fungi undergo sexual reproduction, the cell formed is known as Dikaryon. It is an intermediate stage during the process and is characterized by the presence of two nuclei in each cell. This occurs when two cells undergo fusion but the nuclei of the cells remain independent without fusion that is, they don’t undergo Karyogamy.

The karyotype of the cell will be n+n. In the later stages, these nuclei fuse together to produce a 2n or diploid nucleus. This phenomenon is often seen in the fungal hyphae. The presence of a dikaryotic stage is specific to sub-kingdom Dikarya and is a plesiomorphic character. Examples of the members which has a dikaryotic phase in their life cycle are Basidiomycetes and Ascomycetes. There are certain characters specific to these classes that help in maintaining dikaryotic phase and are, crozier formation in Ascomycetes and Clamp connections present in Basidiomycetes. The term dikaryotic is derived from the word dikaryon which is derived from the Greek words di meaning “two” and karyon meaning “nucleus”.

Note: Apart from sexual reproduction asexual reproduction also takes place in Fungi. Some methods of reproduction by asexual means are budding and fragmentation. But the majority of the members of the kingdom reproduce asexually by means of spore production.