Mycology Flashcards
What are saprophytes?
Eating dead matter
What are the three ways in which fungi can adversely affect us?
- allergens
- Toxin producers
- infectious agents
Does the development of fungal allergies require colonization?
no
What are mycotoxins?
Toxins produced by fungi
What are ergot alkaloids?
Fugal mycotoxin that produces hallucinations
What are alfaltoxins?
Hepatotoxins from fungus that grows on peanuts
What is stachybotrys?
A mycotoxin produced by household mold. Brain effects
What are the two typical targets of antifungal therapies?
Fungal cell wall
Membrane sterol composition (ergosterol)
What is the lipid component of fungal membranes that is analgous to cholesterol, and serves as a target for antifungal therapy?
Ergosterol
Will abx that affect bacterial cell walls have any effects on fungal cell walls?
No
What are the three major components of the fungal cell wall?
Mannan
Glucan
Chitin
Are fungal cells wall very or poorly immunogenic?
Very
Is the capsule that some fungi produce immunogenic?
Yes
What are the two categories of fungi?
Yeast
Molds
What is the term that describes fungi that can transition from a yeast form to a mold form?
Dimorphic
How many cells do yeast have? What shape are they?
Unicellular spheres or ellipsoids
How do yeasts reproduce?
Budding
A germ tube is diagnostic for what fungi?
Candida albicans
What are the small buds that are produced from the process of budding?
Blastoconidia
What are pseudohyphae?
Long extensions of fungi “chains of buds that never broke off”
What are hyphae?
a long, branching filamentous structure of a fungus. In most fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth.
What is a mass of hyphae?
Mycelium
Molds that are infectious (and dimorphic) grow in what form: yeast or mold?
Yeast
Reproductive fungi units produced Asexually are known as what?
Conida
Reproductive fungi units produced sexually are known as what?
Spores
Where on existing molds do conidia form?
along hyphae or on stalk like structures known as conidiophores.