Fungi are widely distributed throughout the environment and are eukaryotic non-

photosynthetic heterotrophs that produce exoenzymes and obtain nutrients by

absorption.

Moulds and yeast represent the two main morphological types of fungi with

1. multicellular moulds forming branching filaments called hyphae

2. unicellular yeasts having an oval or spherical appearence.

Fungi grow aerobically and most are strict aerobes.

Fungal reproduction can either be
a: sexual or
B: asexual and in some species both types can occur.

Fungi are able to tolerate high osmotic pressures and acidic environments as low as pH

Most fungal species of veterinary importance are referred to as deuteromycetes

although some pathogenic fungi do exist in other phyla.

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Types of Fungi
Within the kindgom of Fungi there are four phyla;
1. Ascomycota (ascomycetes),
2. Basidiomycota (basidiomycetes)
3. and Zygomycota (zygomycetes).

These can be ditinguished by their sexual forms or telomorphs.

4. Fungi imperfecti (deuteromycetes) do not have a sexual form and therefore represent a
heterogenous fourth phyla.

Fungal species can be called

4. saprophytic, which obtain nutrients from dead organic matter
5. parasitic
6. mutualistic. Mutualistic fungi have obligatory associations with microorganisms without
which the fungi cannot complete it's own life cycle. Mutualistic fungi are non-pathogenic.

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In mycology, the terms teleomorph, anamorph, and holomorph apply to portions
of the life cycles of fungi in the phyla Ascomycota and Basidiomycota.
Teleomorph: the sexual reproductive stage (morph), typically a fruiting body.

Anamorph: an asexual reproductive stage (morph), often mold-like.

When a single fungus produces multiple morphologically distinct anamorphs,
these are called synanamorphs.

Holomorph: the whole fungus, including anamorphs and teleomorph.

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Fungal Structure
1. Hyphal cell walls formed by moulds provide the cell with a rigid structure that provides a
high degree of protection against osmotic pressure.

2. These hyphal cell walls are mainly composed of chitin and other polysaccharides.

3. The cell wall of yeasts contains protein complexes with polysaccharides and in some
species also lipids. In both species the cell wall is lined by a bilayered cell membrane.
4. Yeasts and mould both have defined nuclei, nuclear membranes, mitochondria and
networks of microtubules.

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• Some fungi have hyphae divided into cells by septa,
with pores allowing cell-to-cell movement of
organelles
• Coenocytic fungi lack septa
cell wall
septum

nucleus

(a) Septate hypha (b) Coenocytic hypha

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 Growth and Reproduction
1. Fungal spores are able to germinate where environmental conditions are
favourable.
2. Fungal spores are the result of either sexual or asexual reproduction. When
germination occurs the spores swell and the metabolic activity increases
allowing the production of tubular projections which develop into branched
hyphae.

Hyphal walls are thin but the cells are able to develop lateral branches at localised
areas leading to a branched hyphal structure. These lateral branches result in the
formation of a mycelium, an interlaced branched network of hyphae.

Yeasts mainly reproduce via asexual division by budding in which daughter cells
separate from parent cells via the formation of a cross-wall budding point.

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Fig. 31-5-3
Generalized Cycle of Fungi although the cells fuse
Key the nuclei don't; it is
said to be dikaryotic
Haploid (n)- most of the life cycle Heterokaryotic
Heterokaryotic stage
(unfused nuclei from PLASMOGAMY different hypha attracted
different parents) (fusion of cytoplasm) by pheromones fuse

Diploid (2n)
from hours to centuries KARYOGAMY
can go by before this
Spore-producing takes effect (fusion of nuclei)
structures
Zygote
Spores SEXUAL
REPRODUCTION
ASEXUAL 1.Mycelium
REPRODUCTION

Mitosis
MEIOSIS
GERMINATION GERMINATION

Spores

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Fig. 31-2

Reproductive structure

Hyphae

Spore-producing
structures

20 µm

Mycelium 8
Any fragment of hyphae can grow to form a new colony (if it is not too badly damaged).
However, the main method of fungal reproduction is through spores which are
produced in very large numbers. There are different types of spores:
A. vegetative,
B. asexual
C. sexual.

Vegetative spores can be divided into

a. Arthrospores

Arthrospores are formed when septate hyphae disarticulate into separate cells.
Arthrospores are usually formed by dermatophytes

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ARTHROSPORES

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 Chlamydospore
b. chlamydospores.. Chlamydospoes are formed by segmentation of mycelium. They are
thick walled, enlarged, resting spores of several kinds of fungi including Ascomycota such
as Candida and Basidiomycota
They contain reserve food material and can remain viable after the rest of the mycelium
has died.

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Budding from the ends or sides of the parent cell forms blastospores, for example, in
Candidosis infections.

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Asexual spores are either
a. sporangiospores

Sporangiospores are formed when the cytoplasm cleaves within a sporangium

(multinucleate segment of hyphae), producing either naked zoospores which have one or
more flagella and are liberated through a hole in the sporangial wall or producing
aplanospores. Aplanospores are non-motile and walled and are released when the
sporangial wall breaks down

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b. conidiospores.. Conidiospores, such as Aspergillus can be formed directly from the
mycelium, produced within a specialised fructification or can be formed externally by
the abstriction of a conidiophore.

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Different types of conidia can be produced which differ in cell size and number and are
called either
microconidia (small and unicellular) or

macroconidia (large and multicellular).

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The sexual spores are divided into four categories depending upon the spores produced
and their morphology.

Zygomycetes are primitive fungi with a non-septate mycelium. The sexual spores are
oospores or zygospores (the asexual spores are produced in a sporangium).

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Ascomycetes are higher fungi. They have a septate mycelium and the sexual spores are
called ascospores (the asexual spores are conidia).

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Basidiomycetes
are also higher fungi with a septate mycelium which has clamp connections. The sexual
spores are basidiospores (the asexual spores are produced externally).

Deuteromycetes are an artifical group of fungi which have an unknown sexual state.

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The Dermatophytoses
The term ringworm is commonly applied to superficial fungal infections
involving the keratinized layers of the skin and its appendages
(hairs, nails, horns, and feathers) in animals and humans.

Ringworm fungi are able to penetrate all layers of the skin, but they are generally
restricted to the nonliving cornified portions, especially the stratum
corneum (1-3).

ringworm can cause severe lesions with concomitant distress in

the host, and occasionally significant economic losses may follow (4).

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Origin and Distribution
There are many species of dermatophytes, some of which have only
been recovered from soil (3). Traditionally, these organisms have been
listed in the class Deuteromycetes (Fungi Imperfecti), but the perfect
or ascus-bearing state has been described for some of them

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Dermatophytes are categorized as geophilic, zoophilic, and anthropophilic
depending on the habitat in which they are most likely to be
found.
Geophilic dermatophytes inhabit the soil and normally exist as
free-living saprophytes.
Zoophilic dermatophytes are primarily detected
as parasites of animals other than humans
anthropophilic types.
humans serve as the main host for the
All three groups nonetheless include species that can cause disease in both animals and
humans.
Transmission from animal to animal, from animals to humans,
from one human to another, and from soil to either animals or humans

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