Mycoviro week 1

• Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy, and their use to humans as a source for tinder, medicine, food, and entheogens, as well as their dangers, such as poisoning or infection.
• Taxonomy of fungi includes Chytridiomycota, Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, and Zygomycota.
• There are four types of mycotic diseases: clinical classification of the mycoses.
• Club fungi, have spores borne on a club-shaped spore (basidiospores) case called a basidium.
• There is no standard that provides for a definition of the amount of genetic diversity that is allowable, or that limits the species level in taxonomy of fungi.
• Mucorales hyphae in tissue appears sparsely septate.
• The simplest of the fungi belong to the Chytridiomycota group, which produce a zoospore with a single, posterior, whiplash flagellum, are saprophytic, and can survive in decaying matter.
• Molecular analysis, including extensive DNA sequencing, is the gold standard to determine taxonomic designation and classification.
• Sac fungi, produce spores in cup-shaped sacs called asci or ascus, include many fungi that reproduce asexually by the formation of conidia (asexual spores) and sexually by the production of ascospores, and are ubiquitous in nature, producing true septate hyphae.
• Traditionally, the fungi have been categorized based on phenotypic traits such as temperature, atmospheric conditions, nutrient availability, and humidity.
• Molecular siblings are an organism that cannot be distinguished based on phenotypic, metabolic and clinical presentation but is recognized as a different species based on molecular analysis.
• Examples of ascomycetes include Pseudalleschria boydii, Histoplasma capsulatum, Aspergillus spp, Saccharomyces spp, and some species of Candida.
• Subcutaneous mycoses involve the deeper skin layers, as well as muscle, connective tissue and bone.
• Superficial mycoses cause little to no inflammation.
• Includes Dermatophytes and agents of infections such as tinea, tinea nigra and piedra.
• Mycetoma is an example of a subcutaneous mycoses.
• Subcutaneous mycoses can be caused by fungi, bacteria, or a combination of both.
• The most common site of infection in systemic mycoses is the lungs.
• Oral candidiasis is an example of an opportunistic mycoses.
• Examples of agents of systemic mycoses include Blastomyces, Coccidioides, Histoplasma, Emmonsia, and Paracoccidiodes.
• Characteristic clinical features of subcutaneous mycoses include progressive nonhealing ulcers and the presence of draining sinus tracts.
• Opportunistic mycoses may occur secondary to an underlying disease process.
• Infections of these organisms occur primarily in immunocompromised patients.
• Infects keratinized tissues.
• Mycetismus is the ingestion of toxin or mushroom poisoning.
• Cutaneous mycoses can trigger an inflammatory response that can cause skin redness or itching.
• The organisms have been divided into the phylum, Glomeromycota and subphylum, Mucoromycotina, and Entomophthoracortina.
• Systemic mycoses are infections that affect internal organs or deep tissues of the body.
• Sparsely septate hyphae and exhibit asexual reproduction by sporangiospores and sexual reproduction by the production of zygospores.
• Opportunistic mycoses are caused by opportunistic pathogens.
• Hypersensitivity is an allergic reaction to molds or spores.
• Infection is a clinical classification of the mycoses, diseases caused by fungi categorized based on the following: superficial or cutaneous, subcutaneous, systemic, and opportunistic.
• Superficial or cutaneous mycoses are fungal infections that involve hair, skin, or nails without direct invasion of deeper tissue, such as agents of ringworm, athlete’s foot, etc.
• Humans can acquire fungal infections through airborne transmission, contact transmission, implantation/penetration through skin, and vehicle-borne transmission.
• Examples of club fungi include mushrooms and puff-balls, smuts and rusts, and Cryptococcus neoformans complex, an important human and animal pathogen.
• Most saprophytes decompose plant debris, especially cellulose and lignin.
• Mycotoxicoses are the consequence of ingestion of grains or forage containing toxic metabolites.
• Cutaneous mycoses symptoms include itching, scaling, or ringlike patches on skin, brittle, broken hair, and thick, discolored nails.
• Zygote-forming fungi, most live on decaying plant and animal matter in the soil; a few are parasites of plants, insects, other animals and humans.
• Basidiospores are enclosed in a club-shaped structure, known as Basidium, and contain one haploid nucleus.