10 Differences between Bacteria and Fungi (Bacteria vs Fungi)

Bacteria (singular: bacterium) are single celled prokaryotic microorganisms living in variety of environments. The branch of science that deals with the study of bacteria is called Bacteriology.

Fungi (singular: fungus) are eukaryotic, heterotrophic organism without differentiated plant body. The branch of science that deals with the study of fungus is called Mycology.

Bacteria vs Fungi

Bacteria	Fungi
Bacteria are prokaryotic (without true nucleus) organisms	Fungi are eukaryotic (with true nucleus) organisms
Bacteria can be both producers and decomposers of the ecosystem. Producers include chemosynthetic bacteria in deep sea vent ecosystem and photosynthetic bacteria. Majority of soil bacteria are decomposers.	Fungi generally are the decomposers of the ecosystem
Most bacteria grow best around neutral pH values (6.5 - 7.0)	Most fungi grow best around slightly acidic pH (4-6)
Bacteria are unicellular organisms that are visible only under microscope	Fungi are unicellular (Yeast) or multi-cellular filamentous organisms with hyphae and mycelium.
Bacterial cell is without true nucleus and membrane bound organelles	Fungal cell is with true nucleus and membrane bound organelles
Bacterial cell wall is made up of peptidoglycan (except in archaebacteria)	Fungal cell wall is made up of chitin
Sterols are absent in cell membrane (except in Mycoplasma)	Sterols are present in cell membrane
Mode of nutrition is heterotrophic, chemoautotrophic, photoautotrophic, aerobic, anaerobic or facultatively anaerobic	Mode of nutrition is heterotrophic (without chlorophyll) living either as saprophytes; feeding on dead or decayed matter or as parasites. Generally aerobic or facultatively anaerobic
Bacteria reproduce by binary fission	Fungus reproduce by variety of sexual and asexual spores
Bacteria are sensitive to antibiotics like Penicillin, Chloramphenicol etc but resistant to  Griseofulvin	Fungi are resistant to antibiotics like Penicillin, Chloramphenicol etc but sensitive to  Griseofulvin
Example of Bacteria:  Curd bacteria (Lactobacillus lactis), Escherichia coli, faecal bacteria causing food poisoning Learn more: Classification of Bacteria  Gram + ve and Gram -ve bacteria Eubacteria & Archaebacteria	Example of Fungi:  White button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus); Brewer's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) Learn more: 20 examples of Fungi Classification of Fungi