Fungi Archive
Occurence: Puccinia includes about 700 species which are important as they cause rust dieseases of economically important crop plants such as wheat,barley, eats etc. The most important of all is P. graminis. It is an internal obligate parsite and is found …
About 10-16 species of Saccharomyces are currently recognized. We will focus on S. cerevisiae, which in many ways is the most important fungus yet discovered. About 25 strains of S. cerevisiae exist, and these have different physiological properties which are relevant …
There are several steps in the production and release of conidia, namely (1) conidiogenesis, i.e. conidial initiation; (2) maturation; (3) delimitation; (4) secession, i.e. separation from the conidiogenous cell; (5) proliferation of the conidiogenous cell or conidiophore to form further …
Conidia: The asexual spores or conidia of ascomycetes are remarkably diverse in form, structure and modes of dispersal, but their development or conidiogenesis occurs in a limited number of ways. The cell from which a conidium develops is the conidiogenous …
Sexual life cycles: Sexual life cycles in the strict sense, i.e. involving nuclear fusion and meiosis, occur only in those ascomycetes which possess asci, because it is within the young ascus that these events occur. Ascospores of most ascomycetes contain one …
The name Phytophthora (Gr.: ‘plant destroyer’) is apt, most species being highly destructive plant pathogens. The best known is P. infestans, cause of late blight of potatoes. This fungus is confined to solanaceous hosts (especially tomato and potato), but others …
The phylum Oomycota, alternatively called Peronosporomycetes currently comprises some 800-1000 species. The vegetative hypha: Although some members of the Oomycota grow as sac-like or branched thalli, most of them produce hyphae forming a mycelium. The hyphae of Oomycota are coenocytic, i.e. …
Plasmodiophora brassicae: Plasmodiophora brassicae is the causal organism of club root or finger-and-toe disease of brassicas and was first described by Woronin (1878). The disease is common in gardens where brassicas are frequently grown, especially if the soil is acidic and …
The Myxomycetes (zool.: Myxogastrea) are by far the largest group of slime moulds, comprising some 800 species in 62 genera. These are the familiar slime moulds so common on moist, decaying wood and other organic substrata. They are also abundant …
The reproduction by means of small spores is a cornerstone in the ecology of fungi. Although a single spore may have a negligible chance of reaching a suitable substrate, spores may be produced in such quantities that even discrete substrates …