1.

3 Fungi : Yeast and Molds

 Introduction
Fungi include yeasts and molds
• are eukaryotic;

• have a rigid cell wall;

• are heterotrophs (require organic compounds for both carbon

and energy sources);

• obtain their nutrients by absorption from an external source;

• obtain nutrients as saprophytes (live off of decaying matter) or as

parasites (live off of living matter).
 Three groups of fungi
have major practical importance:
molds, yeasts, and mushrooms.
• Fungi perform activities in natural ecosystems. They decompose
organic matters in soil, wood, plants, animals, and others into
smaller units.
• Fungi play a critical role in the recycling of minerals and carbon
in nature.
• Certain types of fungi, mainly molds, produce organic acids,
antibiotics, enzymes, and hormones.
• Not all fungi are beneficial and some damage agricultural crops,
cause disease in animals and humans, and produce poisonous
toxins in foods.
 Fungal Morphology

• Dimorphic : found in two physical forms

• Yeasts :- Single celled fungi
• Molds :- Multicelled filaments = Hyphae
Mycelium – hyphal mass
Mushrooms
Yeast
 Introduction

• fungi that grow as single cell

• by budding (the budding yeasts) or by binary fission (the
fission yeasts)
• differ from most fungi, which grow as thread-like hyphae
• grow typically in moist environments ; plentiful supply of
simple, soluble nutrients
• found on the skin surfaces and in the intestinal tracts of
warm-blooded animals, where they may live symbiotically or
as parasites
 Yeast morphology
• The cells are oval, spherical, lemon, elongated, or cylindrical
shaped, differ in size (1-5 µm wide by 5-30 µm long), and non
motile.
• Yeast are unicellular fungi
• They have typical eukaryotic structures
• They have a thick polysaccharide cell wall.
• They are facultative anaerobes which mean they are capable of
both aerobic and anaerobic respiration. When oxygen is
unavailable, yeasts carry out fermentation, anaerobic respiration.
• Yeasts can be oxidative, fermentative, or both. The oxidative yeasts
may grow as a film or pellicle on the surface of a liquid and termed
as film yeasts.Fermentative yeasts usually grow throughout the
liquid.
 Reproduction of yeasts
• Yeasts reproduce asexually by a process called budding
• A bud is formed on the outer surface of the parent cell as
the nucleus divides
• One nucleus migrates into the elongating bud
• Cell wall material forms between the bud and the parent cell
and the bud breaks away.
 Common yeast in food microbiology

• the common baker's yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae

• the dimorphic fungus Candida albicans which can be a
significant pathogen of humans
 Saccharomyces cerevisiae
• most well-known and commercially significant yeasts
• They are involved in bioprocessing (such as brewing, baking,
alcoholic, and distilling industries) and can also cause spoilage
of food with the production of alcohol and CO2
• ferment the sugars of rice, wheat, barley, and corn to produce
alcoholic beverages
• baking industry to expand, or raise, dough.
• often taken as a vitamin supplement because it is 50 percent
protein and is a rich source of B vitamins, niacin, and folic
acid.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
 The yeast's function in baking
• to ferment sugars present in the flour or added to the dough
• This fermentation gives off carbon dioxide and ethanol
• The carbon dioxide is trapped within tiny bubbles and results
in the dough expanding, or rising
 Dimorphic fungi

dimorphic fungus - some fungi can

alternate between a yeast phase and a
hyphal phase, depending on environmental
conditions
 Candida albicans
• a dimorphic fungus that grows at 37°C
• normal habitat - mucosal membranes of humans and other
warm-blooded animals, where it grows as a yeast and causes
little or no damage
• however, the same strains that grow as harmless
commensals can become pathogenic. C. albicans causes
systemic infections in the oral, gastrointestinal, and
urogenital tracts of humans and animals
Dimorphism in fungi
Mold
 Introduction
• dusty little spots often found spreading over bread, cheese,
books, and other things in the home
• cause the loss of millions of dollars to our economy every
year and, even worse, may be a menace to your health
 Characteristics of molds
• Molds have typical eukaryotic structures, are microscopic, plant-like
organisms, composed of long filaments called hyphae
• Molds are aerobes microorganism.
• Molds are nonmotile.
• The cell wall is composed of cellulose, chitin, or both.
• A mold consists of a mass of branching filaments called hyphae (singular
hypha).
• Hyphae that are divided with cross walls are called septate hyphae, and
hyphae without cross walls are called nonseptate hyphae.
• The whole mass of hyphae is known as the mycelium- When mould hyphae
are numerous enough to be seen by the naked eye and form a cottony mass
• Mould hyphae grow over the surface and inside nearly all substances of
plant or animal origin.
• Hyphae can be vegetative or reproductive.
• vegetative mycelium (Submerged hyphae) - The portion of
the mycelium that anchors the mold, digest organic
compound by extracellular enzymes and absorbs nutrients
• Later, as the mold mature, surface reproductive hyphae (aerial
mycelium) sprout and produce asexual spores or sexual spores
(either free or in a sack) with extending in the air.
 Reproduction of molds
• which can be either sexual or asexual
• Sexually spores - from a mating between two different
organisms or hyphae, fuse and produce spores
• Asexual spores - from a simple internal division or external
modification of an individual hypha
• Haploid spores formed on hyphae
• Fragmentation: broken fragments on hyphae
Asexual spores
 Asexual spores

1. conidiospores
2. sporangiospores
3. arthrospores
 1. conidiospores
• Spores borne externally on an aerial hypha
Scanning electron micrographs of the conidiospores of
Aspergillus
electron micrographs of the conidiospores of Penicillium
 2. sporangiospores
• Mold spores borne internally within a sac or sporangium on
an aerial hypha (ie Rhizopus sp., Mucor sp.)
Sporangiospores of Rhizopus
 3. arthrospores
• spores produced by fragmentation of a vegetative hypha (i.e
Geotrichum)
Arthrospores of Coccidioides immitis
Sexual spores
 Sexual spores

(1) oospores,
(2) zygospores,
(3) ascospores,
(4) basidiospores
 (1) oospores
produced when male
gametes (antheridium)
enter a large spherical cell
(oogonium) and fertilize the
eggs within
The result, is numerous
oogonia containing one
to several spherical and
often brownish eggs
 (2) zygospores

• do not occur inside any kind of enclosing structure,

• but are produced by the direct fusion of two hyphal
protrusions (suspensors) from neighbouring filaments
• large, nearly spherical, often dark brown or black,
rough-walled spores with two connecting hyphae,
representing the two mating gametangia
 zygospore
illustration
 (3) ascospores

produced within spherical to cylindrical cells called asci,

most often in groups of four or eight
produced within some kind of enclosing structure and thus
are not found exposed on the hyphae
A: three kinds of asci: cylindrical, clavate, and spherical
 (4) basidiospores
produced externally on a structure called a basidium
come in a variety of forms, commonly encountered are
club-shaped and bear four or eight spores on sharp
projections