Question

Which of the following is the common characteristic shown by the mushroom, smut and rust fungi?
A. Is the presence of basidiocarps.
B. Is the presence of ascocarps.
C. Are helpful to plants.
D. Are saprophytic in nature.

Answer 1

Hint: Basidiocarps are found among the members of the organism under the phylum Basidiomycota, but the exceptions are rust and smut fungi. The basidiospores are the types of sexual spores that are formed on the basidium.

Complete answer:
Option C is also incorrect as Rust and smut are diseases caused by fungi belonging to Basidiomycetes. Rusts produce five to six different types of spores on the plants as the host. For example, heteroecious that requires two hosts and macrocyclic that will produce five spores. So, they are disease causing in plants and not helpful but damages the plants.
Option D is also incorrect because mushrooms are saprophytic in nature as they obtained food from dead and decays matter but the smut and rust fungi are facultative saprophytes means that they do not belongs to the complete saprophytic category and are mainly parasitic in nature.
Option B is incorrect whereas the correct option is A because rusts, smuts and mushrooms all three organisms belong to the Class Basidiomycetes (basidiocarps) and all produce basidiospores. All three belongs categorizes as pathogenic fungi. Rusts belongs to Uredinales, for example, Puccinia graminis infects as black rust of wheat. Smuts belong to order Ustilaginales that produce teleutospores. Mushrooms come under the Order Agaricales.

Hence, the correct answer is option (A).

Note: Basidiomycetes, are the third most diverse category of organisms under the phylum of fungi, are most profound occurring fungi having about sixteen thousand species. All these fungi including smuts and rust have characteristic fruiting bodies known as basidiocarps.