Mycology Flashcards
Lectures: -Week 1, day 2, lecture 7 - Fungal biology -Week 1, day 2, lecture 8 - Medical mycology
What is the ‘mycelium’?
Mass of branching hyphae which make up the vegetative growth of the fungus
What are hyphae?
Fungal filaments
Which types of hyphae are there? (2)
- Septate hyphae
- Coenocytic hyphae
True or false: nucleae cannot pass septae in the septate hyphae
False; nulcei can pass the septal pores
Fungal grwoth follows a growing tip. Which structure is located there, that allows fungal growth?
The spitzenkörper, a cluster of enzymes rquired for growth
There are more varieties of [yeasts/molds]
Molds (400.000 known species, whereas there are ~1.500 known yeast species)
What are the main differences between yeasts and molds? (3)
- Colony shape -> molds have fluffy colonies, whereas yeasts have round colonies
- Structural makeup -> molds are multicellular, yeasts are unicellular
- Reproduction -> molds can perform both sexual and asexual reproduction. Yeasts reproduce asexually by budding.
What are dimorphic fungi?
Fungi that can grow/act as both yeasts and molds, depending on the environment
What component is (almost) always present in fungal cell walls?
Chitin (and often also β-glucan)
In what way do fungal cell membranes differ from mammalian membranes? Which (therepeutic) advantage does this offer?
Contain ergesterol (instead of cholesterol), which can be used to targed fungal cell membranes without disrupting human cells
Fungi are heterotrophs. What does this mean?
Fungi cannot acquire energy from the sun -> they need to absorb nutrition from their surroundings
How do fungi absorb nutrients from their surroundings?
They secrete enzymes that digest a substrate in their surrounding, after which they absorb the nutrients
Fungi can produce both sexually and asexually. When do they choose sexual reproduction, and when asexual reproduction?
Asexual reproduction is performed in a nutrient-rich environment that does not require a different genetic makeup to survive
Sexual reproduction is performed under stress conditions -> different genetic makeup can increase survival
True or false: most of the fungal life cycle is diploid
False; most of the fungal life cycle is haploid, only after karyogamy there is a diploid stage
What are the steps in asexual reproduction of fungi? (3)
- Mycelium ->
- Spore-producing structures produce spores ->
- Germination
What are the steps in sexual reproduction of fungi? (6)
- Mycelium ->
- Plasmogamy = fusion of cytoplasm with another fungus ->
- Heterokaryotic stage ->
- Karyogamy = fusion of nuclei, producing a diploid zygote ->
- Meiosis, producting haploid spores ->
- Germination
Where do spore producing structures form in fungi?
At the end of hyphael tips
True or false: in fungal sexual reproduction, a ‘male’ and ‘female’ fungus can be distinguished
False, there is no clear distinction between the counterparts in fungal sexual reproduction. They are therefore referred to as ‘α and B)
How long kan the heterokaryotic stage, that occurs after the cytoplasm of the sexually reproducing fungi have fused, last?
Up to several years
Wat is the heterokaryon?
Union of two parent mycelia after nuclear fusion (diploid stage)