What are oomycetes?
1 Answer
Oomycetes, when they were first discovered were found to be similar to fungi as they have a filamentous structure however later on it was discovered that they do not share much in common with fungi on a molecular level and were thereby classified as stramenopiles.
They are commonly termed are ' fungus like ' eukaryotes.
They are termed water molds and can be either pathogenic or saprophytic in nature.
1) The saprophytic kinds are often found in moist soil and as they are saprophytes they play a key role in decomposition of organic matter found in soil.
2) the pathogenic kinds on the other hand are very harmful to dicot plants as they are pathogens.
They cause terrible diseases which affect plants and vegertables like potatoes, tomatoes etc. causing immense economic damage too.
