Saprotroph

Mycelial cord of fungi made up of a collection of hyphae; an essential part in the process of saprotrophic nutrition, it is used for the intake of organic matter through its cell wall. The network of hyphae (the mycelium) is fundamental to fungal nutrition.
Wiktionary logo
Look up saprotroph in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A saprotroph is an organism that feeds on dead organic matter or waste by excreting chemicals to digest it, rather than eating it directly (as detritivores do). Microscopic saprotrophs are sometimes called saprobes.

Saprotrophic digestion is most often performed by fungi (e.g. Mucor) and soil bacteria. In fungi, this is usually done by actively transporting such materials through endocytosis within the internal mycelium and its constituent hyphae.

This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.