Lecture 1 Mycology 2024-2025 PDF

Overview of Mycology – past and future SSCY 2613/Sscg 2633 Assoc. Prof Dr Madihah Md Salleh Dr Zarita Zakaria  LIST OF TOPICS ❖The Six Kingdom of life ❖Classifying Life’s Diversity ❖What are Fungi ❖Classification of fungi ❖Fungi Characteristics ❖Source of Fungi ❖Role of Fungi ...

Overview of Mycology – past and future SSCY 2613/Sscg 2633 Assoc. Prof Dr Madihah Md Salleh Dr Zarita Zakaria  LIST OF TOPICS ❖The Six Kingdom of life ❖Classifying Life’s Diversity ❖What are Fungi ❖Classification of fungi ❖Fungi Characteristics ❖Source of Fungi ❖Role of Fungi  The Six Kingdoms of Life Scientists group organisms based on similarities into six kingdoms 1. Archae 2. Bacteria 3. Protista 4. Fungi 5. Plantae 6. Animalea Classifying Life’s Diversity Each of the six kingdoms are assigned, on the basis of cell structure into one of three domains ❖Bacteria ❖Archaea ❖Eukarya  What kingdom do these organisms belong to? Fungi ❖ most multicellular, ❖ few unicellular, ❖ eukaryotes ❖ heterotrophs  an organism that eats other plants or animals for energy and nutrients.  What are Fungi? Kingdom of eukaryotic organisms, without chlorophyll, cells bound by rigid walls Organisms classified in this kingdom: ❖ Absorb food in solution directly through their cell walls ❖ Reproduce through spores ❖ None conduct photosynthesis  Classification of Fungi. Yeast – single cell produced by budding a Ex : Yeasts: (Candida sp., Cryptococcus neoformans) b. Dimorphic fungi - Capable of growing in mould or yeast form under different environmental conditions (temperature, CO2, nutrients Ex : Histoplasma, Blastomyces, Coccidioides, Sporothrix c. Moulds – Long filaments (hyphae) or mat (mycelium) Ex : Aspergillus sp, Rhizopus sp Fusarium sp Microscope observations of yeast-to-mold conversion revealed that only thick-walled yeasts having prominent lipid bodies in their cytoplasm converted to hyphal forms. Typically, the thick-walled yeast formed two to a number of moniliform hyphal cells which in turn often produced true hyphae.  ❖The ability of pathogenic fungi to switch between a multicellular hyphal and unicellular yeast growth form is a tightly regulated process known as dimorphic switching. Dimorphic fungi ❖Dimorphic switching requires the fungus to sense and respond to the host environment and is essential for pathogenicity. ❖The role of dimorphism in fungi commonly called thermally dimorphic fungi, which switch to a yeast growth form during infection. ❖Example - Phylogenetically diverse ascomycetes What is the difference between spores and yeast? Mold spores have unique shape and structure. hard and generally resistant to environmental conditions. Yeast and yeast like fungal bodies are delicate, sensitive to environmental conditions, reproduce by budding. Yeast is one celled and reproduce by budding, while mold is multicell and reproduce by different methods. Fungal Characteristics ❖ Plant-like lacking chlorophyll ❖ Cell wall chitinous matrix ❖ Free-living - heterotrophs ❖ needs Carbon and Nitrogen sources ❖ Eukaryotic, highly developed cellular Structure ❖ Facultatively anaerobic/strict aerobic ❖ Non-photosynthetic  Characteristics of Fungi Body form unicellular filamentous (tube-like strands called hypha (singular) or hyphae (plural) mycelium - aggregate of hyphae sclerotium - hardened mass of mycelium that generally serves as an overwintering stage. Multicellular- such as mycelial cords, rhizomorphs, and fruit bodies (mushrooms) Fungal Characteristics Heterotrophy - 'other food’ ❖ Saprophytes or saprobes - feed on dead tissues or organic waste (decomposers) ❖ Symbionts - mutually beneficial relationship between a fungus and another organism ❖ Parasites - feeding on living tissue of a host. Parasites that cause disease are called pathogens.  Source of Fungi Most of fungi are ubiquitous in nature (air, water, soil, decaying organic debris) Insect gut , bird nest, biomass waste Exception: Candida – part of endogenous flora: ❖ Mouth ❖ Gastro Intestinal tract ❖ Skin, etc. Opportunistic pathogens: can cause infections ❖ only in patients with immunodeficiency or debilitated patients. Endemic mycoses: often causes diseases in immunocompetent hosts within endemic areas. Role of fungi in Biotechnology Colour Type Area of Biotechnology Activity Red Health, Medical and Diagnostic Yellow Food Biotechnology and Nutricians Science Blue Aquaculture, Marine Biotech and Coastal Green Agricultural, Environment Biotechnology, Biofuels, Biofertilizer, Bioremediation, Geomicrobiology Brown Arid zone and desert biotechnology Purple Patent, Inventions, Publication and Intelectual Properties (IP) White Gene Based Biotechnology , Industrial Biotech Gold Bioinformatics and Nanobiotechnology Grey Classical fermentations and Bioprocess Technology Black Bioweapons  Fungi Role as Decomposers ❖ Fungi are the only organisms that can completely decompose lignin (what makes wood hard) ❖ Lignin must be broken down before any other decomposition can occur ❖ Fungi also decompose cellulose to glucose and play a major role in the global carbon cycle. ❖ break down complex molecules into sugars or consume sugars found in environment. ❖ Examples Common bread molds Shelf fungi White button mushrooms Role of Fungi in Industry Role of fungi in Agriculture  Role of fungi in Medical and Pharmaceutical ❖Medicinal fungi are fungi which contain metabolites or can be induced to produce metabolites through biotechnology to develop prescription drugs. ❖Compounds successfully developed into drugs or under research include 1. antibiotics, 2. anti-cancer drugs, 3. cholesterol and ergosterol synthesis 4. inhibitors, 5. psychotropic drugs, 6. immunosuppressants 7. fungicides.  ❖ The way scientists go about using hyphae to Fungi Role in Nanotechnology make nanoparticles is actually quite simple. ❖ The protein nitrate reductase changes the inedible nitrate into a related form of nitrogen called nitrite and then ammonium. ❖ Nitrate reductase is known as an enzyme, which are proteins that speed up the rate of chemical reactions and are able to be used over and over again. ❖ It is an enzyme that nanoparticle producers have recently learned to harness in order to create nanoparticles. Beneficial vs Harmful Fungi Thank You for your Attention For Detail Information please refer to e-journals provided in e-learning