MYCOLOGY NOTES

• Mycology is the study of fungi, which include molds and yeasts; molds exhibit a filamentous type of growth while yeasts have a pasty or mucoid form of fungal growth
• Fungi are eukaryotic, containing a nucleus bound by a membrane, endoplasmic reticulum, and mitochondria
• Fungi are heterotrophic like animals and most bacteria, requiring organic nutrients as a source of energy
• Fungi are essential in recycling elements, especially carbon
• Industrial uses of fungi include mushrooms, truffles, yeast as a food supplement, and Penicillium for ripening cheese and adding flavor
• Fungi are crucial in fermentation processes like fruit juices, industrial alcohol, and the production of fats, proteins, and acids
• Antibiotics were first observed by Fleming, noting the suppression of bacteria by a contaminating fungus on a culture plate
• Around 50-100 species of fungi are recognized as human pathogens
• Fungi play a significant role in the economy through industrial uses, fermentation, antibiotics, plant pathology, and medical importance
• Increased mobility, immunocompromised individuals, and an aging population contribute to the increased incidence of fungal infections
• Spores in mycology can be sexual or asexual, with various types like ascospores, basidiospores, conidia, and chlamydospores
• Most plant diseases are caused by fungi
• Basic structures in mycology include hyphae, mycelium, and spores
• Mold is a term generally referring to filamentous fungi

  
• Miscellaneous terms in mycology include ascus, asexual reproduction, and terms like chromoblastomycosis, coenocytic, and conidiophore
• Mycetoma is a clinical syndrome of localized, tumorous lesions in cutaneous and subcutaneous tissues due to infections, often in the foot, with actinomycetes or fungi
• Oospore, also called zygospore, is a sexual spore produced through the fusion of two unlike nuclei (class Phycomycetes)
• Mycotoxins are toxins of fungal origin
• Mycosis is a disease caused by a fungus
• Perfect fungi are fungi having sexual and asexual reproductive stages
• Phycomycetes is a class of fungi forming a coenocytic mycelium with stiff sporangiophores that bear sporangiospores contained in a sporangium
• Pseudohyphae are a chain of elongated budding cells that have failed to detach (not true hyphae)
• Ringworm is a term used to describe circular or ring-like skin lesions produced by dermatophytes
• Rhizoids are root-like structures
• Saprobe (Saprophyte) is any plant organism that obtains its nourishment from dead organic matter
• Sexual reproduction in fungi involves zygote / spore formation following the fusion of two haploid nuclei
• Sporangiophore is a special aerial hypha or stalk bearing a sporangium
• Sporangium is a sac or cell containing spores produced asexually
• Spore is generally the reproductive body of a fungus; occasionally, a resistant body for adverse environments
• Sterigmata are specialized structures that arise from a basidium and support basidiospores
• Sporotrichosis is a mycosis resulting from inoculation with Sporothrix schenckii, with the lymphocutaneous type being most common
• Telemorph is the sexual form of a fungus
• Thallospore is a spore formed by a change in portions of the thallus
• Thallus is the vegetative body of a fungus
• Tinea (Ringworm) is a prefix used with the infected area of the body to indicate a cutaneous mycosis
• Yeast is a pasty or mucoid form of fungus growth, microscopically showing a predominance of budding cells
• Zoophilic dermatophytes are parasitic on lower animals as well as humans
• Superficial mycoses are confined to the outermost layers of the skin and hair, with no host cellular / inflammatory response due to organisms being remote from living tissue
• Cutaneous mycoses have a particular affinity for the keratin of the skin, nails, and hair, with most infections caused by dermatophytes
• Subcutaneous mycoses involve the deeper layers of skin and often muscle tissue, with man being an accidental host following inoculation of fungal spores via trauma