Fungi do have cell walls similar to plants. The crucial difference is that they are heterotrophic, meaning that they cannot synthesize their own food source (glucose), whereas plants, being autotrophic, can make glucose through photosynthesis. The answer is E.

I’m not sure I got your question right… all the options are wrong, are you asking which one is wrong the most? 😛

A) Fungi are not plant, nor are they necessarily unicellular
B) They have chitine instead of cellulose as the main component of their cell wall
C) They can synthesize protein just like all nucleated cells and prokaryotes
D) They can absorb water, all living cells/organisms can
E) They are heterothrops

It’s B and E.

I think the key point in the question is "essential". It’s basically asking "What’s the biggest difference between plants and fungi?" And the answer is indeed B. It is kind of a crappy question though

@alex
The only similarities between plant and fungi cell walls is that they are called the same and that they share somewhat similar mechanical roles. The structure of the fungi cell wall is very different, it is made of chitin (poly-N-acetylglucosamine – thus a nitrogen containing sugar). Also, it cannot be stretched in response to a hormone, like the plant cell wall can in response to auxin. Not least, there is probably a lot less signaling which involves the fungi cell wall, whereas the plant cell wall can be used as a source of information.

Choice E is correct. Fungi lack the ability to synthesize glucose as Green Plants do. Stated in another way, Fungi cannot carry out photosynthesis. And this has been one of the main reasons fungi were excluded from the Plant Kingdom.

Yep, choice E.