Fungi & Ubiquity Flashcards
Saprophytes (saprobes)
organism that lives off decomposing organic matter
Mycelium Hyphae (hypha)
collective filaments of fungi (hyphae)
Dimorphic fungi
have both mold & yeast life-cycle stages
Ubiquitous
organism that could be found just about anywhere, such as bacteria
Host - biotic (alive)
organism which smaller organisms live, feed, and reproduce
Reservoir - biotic or abiotic
natural habitat or host of pathogen; serves as potential source of infection; may be non-living (soil, water) or living (human or other organism)
Mutualism
both organisms benefit
Commensalism
one benefits and the other is unaffected
Parasitism
one benefits and the other is negatively affected
Opportunistic pathogens
infectious agents (usually weakly pathogenic) which can cause disease in an immunocompromised host
organisms may also infect a site not normally inhabited by the pathogen, thus causing disease
Kingdom Fungi
non-motile eukaryotes with a cell wall composed of polysaccharide chtitin
Kingdom fungi are…
absorptive heterotrophs which secrete exoenzymes into environment & then absorb digested nutrients
Kingdom fungi are mostly
harmless saprophytes (saprobes) that decompose dead organic matter
Some fungi are
parasites of plants, animals, or humans
How are fungi divided?
informally based on overall appearance into yeasts & molds