GLOSSARY OF TERMS (MICR102B)

Aerial mycelium

Hyphal elements growing above the agar surface

Adiaconidia

A large, globose, thick-walled conidium usually produced by Emmonsia (Chrysosporium) parvum in lungs of humans and animals

Anamorph

An asexual state of a fungus

Arthroconidium

A thallic conidium released by splitting of a double septum or fragmentation/lysis of a disjunctor cell

Aseptate

Lacking septa, often seen in zygomycete hyphae

Basidiospore

A haploid spore produced on a basidium after karyogamy and meiosis

Blastoconidium

An asexual conidium formed by budding

Capsule

A hyaline mucopolysaccharide sheath around the cell wall of certain yeasts

Catenulate

Conidia arranged in chains

Chlamydoconidium

A thick-walled thallic conidium formed within vegetative hyphae for survival

Coenocytic

Multinucleate hyphae with infrequent septa

Columella

A sterile dome-like structure at the tip of a sporangiophore or within a sporangium

Conidiophore

A specialized hypha that produces conidia

Dimorphic

Having two different morphological forms

Ectothrix

Hair invasion by dermatophytes with arthroconidia on the outside of the hair shaft

Foot cell

A basal cell of a conidiophore

Hyaline

Colorless

Macroconidium

The larger type of conidium produced by a fungus

Metula

A sterile cell below phialides in some fungi

Mycelium

The mass of hyphae forming the fungal body

Pseudohyphae

Chains of elongated blastoconidia resembling hyphae

Rhizoids

Short root-like branching hyphae

Sclerotium

A mass of thick-walled cells functioning as a survival structure

Sporangiospore

An asexual spore formed inside a sporangium

Sporangium

A sac-like structure producing spores internally

Stolon

A running hypha from which rhizoids and sporangia arise

Boat-shaped

Microsporum gypseum

Tobacco-shaped

Trichophyton mentagrophytes

Spindle-shaped

Microsporum canis

Beaver tail-shaped

Epidermophyton floccosum

Pear/Ovoid-shaped

Microsporum nanum

Boiling pin appearance

Malassezia furfur

Ring-shaped thick capsule

Cryptococcus neoformans

Oval/Almond-shaped

Candida albicans

Paecilomyces spp

Brush-like conidiophores

Penicillium spp

Brush-shaped conidiophores

Sabouraud's dextrose agar (SDA)

Classic medium recommended for most fungal studies

SDA with chloramphenicol

Selective medium that inhibits bacterial growth