Why are yeast cells classified as fungi and how do they differ from other fungi?
Yeast cells are classified as fungi because: “Yeast are unicellular fungi. The precise classification is a field that uses the characteristics of the cell, ascospore and colony. Physiological characteristics are also used to identify species. One of the more well known characteristics is the ability to ferment sugars for the production of ethanol. Budding yeasts are true fungi of the phylum Ascomycetes, class Saccharomycetes (also called Hemiascomycetes). The true yeasts are separated into one main order Saccharomycetales.” – http://www.yeastgenome.org/VL-what_are_y… They differ from other fungi because: As Phillip had previously mentioned, yeast is different in that they can ferment sugars to produce ethanol (use sugar to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide essentially). Hope this helps!
