Mycology VIVA Question and Answer

Mycology VIVA Question and Answer
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1) What is Mycology?

  • It is the study of fungi which includes yeasts and molds.

2) Fungi is prokaryotic or eukaryotic? 

  • Eukaryotic

3) Example of a unicellular eukaryotic organism?

  • Yeast

4) What are saprophytes?

  • Those organisms which depend on( live on) dead and decaying organism are saprophytes. Example: Fungi

5) What is the difference in the cell membrane of fungi and bacteria?

  • Sterol is present in the cell membrane of fungi i.e ergosterol
  • In bacteria, there is an absence of sterol except in Mycoplasma

6) What is the cell wall of fungi made up of?

  • Chitin
  • Glucans
  • Mannans
  • Peptidoglycan is not present in it.

7) Name symbiotic fungi and it’s use.

  • Mycorrhizae
  • Helps root in absorbing minerals and water from the soil

8) Give examples of yeast:

  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae
  • Schizosaccharomyces pombe
  • Candida albicans
  • Cryptococcus neoformans

9) Give examples of mold:

  • Penicillium
  • Rhizopus
  • Aspergillus
  • Fusarium
  • Mucor
  • Cladosporium
  • Trichophyton
  • Trichoderma 

10) What do you mean by Dimorphic fungi?

  • Having two forms i.e. Yeast and Mold
  • Temperature-dependent pathogenic fungi are yeast-like at 35 °C – 37 °C and mold like at 25 °C- 30 °C.

11) Give examples of Dimorphic fungi?

  • Histoplasma capsulatum
  • Candida albicans
  • Blastomyces dermatitidis
  • Coccidioides immitis
  • Paracoccidioides brasiliensis
  • Penicillium marneffei
  • Sporothrix schenckii

12) What do you mean by polymorphic fungi?

  • Fungi that have more than one independent form or spore stage in their lifecycle are called polymorphic fungi.

13) Name one of the enzymes present in fungi and it’s use.

  • Cellulase
  • Animals cannot digest the hard part of the plant so fungi as a primary decomposer use cellulase enzyme for the decomposition.

14) What is Thallus?

  • The thallus is the body or vegetative structure that is present in fungus.
  • Its plural is Thalli

15 ) What are hyphae?

  • Long, filamentous, and branching structures present in fungi are called hyphae.
  • It’s singular is hypha.

16) What are mycelium?

  • The filamentous mass of hypha are called mycelium.
  • They are visible to the naked eye.

17) What are septa?

  • It is the cross wall present in hyphae.
  • It divides the hypha into different distinct parts, uninucleate (one-nucleus ) cell-like units.

18) What are septate hyphae? 

  • Hyphae which contains septa in it.

19) What are coenocytic hyphae?

  • Hyphae which doesn’t contain septa are called coenocytic hyphae.
  • Also called Aseptate or Non-septate hyphae.

20) What is hyaline?

  • It is non-pigmented hyphae.

21) What is dematiaceous?

  • It is darkly pigmented hyphae.

22) What is conidia?

  • Conidia mean asexual spores.

23) What are the types of asexual spores?

  • Arthroconidia or arthrospores
  • Chlamydospores
  • Sporangiospores
  • Conidiospores
  • Blastospores

24) What are the types of sexual spores?

  • Zygospore
  • Ascospore
  • Basidiospore

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25) What are teleomorphs?

  • Teleomorphs are fungi that produce both sexual and asexual spores.

26) What are anamorphs? 

  • Asexual form in fungi of phyla Ascomycota and Basidiomycota are anamorphs.

27) What are synanomorphs? 

  • Fungi that have a different asexual forms of the same fungus are called synanomorphs.

28) What are arthroconidia or arthrospores?

  • The spores ( cells) formed by the fragmentation of the hypha are called arthroconidia or arthrospores.
  • Fragmentation occurs through the splitting of the cell wall or septum.

29) What are chlamydospores?

  • Before the separation, if the cells are surrounded by a thick wall, they are called chlamydospores.

30) What are sporangiospores?

  • If the spores develop within a sac at a hyphal tip, they are called sporangiospores.
  • The saclike structure is sporangium ( plural: sporangia )

31) What are conidiospores?

  • If the spores are produced at the tips or sides of the hypha but are not enclosed in a sac, they are called conidiospores.

32) What are blastospores? 

  • The spores which are produced from a vegetative mother cell by budding are called blastospores.

33) General feature of Colonies of yeast :

  • Moist
  • Creamy
  • Opaque or pasty colonies

34) General feature of filamentous fungi or mold :

  • Fluffy
  • Cottony
  • Powdery colonies

35) What is the fungal infection termed as? 

  • Mycosis ( plural mycoses )

36) Medical classification of fungi : 

  • Superficial and Cutaneous mycoses: fungal infection of the outermost layers of skin and hair
  • Subcutaneous mycoses: fungal infection beneath the skin i.e  dermis, subcutaneous tissue
  • Systemic mycoses: fungal infection deep within the body
  • Opportunistic mycoses: a fungal infection caused by the opportunistic pathogen

37) What is otomycosis?

  • fungal infection of the ear

38) What is osteomycosis? 

  • fungal infection of the bone

39) Examples of Superficial and Cutaneous mycoses :

Disease   Associated fungi  
Pityriasis Versicolor ( dandruff and follicular pityriasis ) Malassezia furfur
Tinea pedis ( Athlete’s foot)/ Tinea cruris ( ringworm ) Trichophyton rubrum
Piedra (trichosporosis) (black and white ) Piedraia hortae and Trichosporon beigelii

40) Examples of Sub-cutaneous mycoses : 

Infection  Associated fungi
Sporotrichosis Sporothrix schenckii
Chromoblastomycosis Phialophora spp. , Cladosporium spp.
Mycotic mycetoma Pseudellescheria spp. , Madurella spp. , Exophila spp. , Cladosporium spp.

41) Examples of Systemic mycoses : 

Infection Associated fungi
Cryptococcosis Cryptococcus neoformans
Histoplasmosis Histoplasma capsulatum
Blastomycosis Blastomyces dermatitidis
Paracoccidioidomycosis Paracoccidioides brasiliensis
Coccidioidomycosis Coccidiodes immitis

42) Examples of Opportunistic mycoses : 

Infection Associated fungi
Aspergillosis Aspergillus fumigates
Candidiasis Candida albicans
Geotrichosis Geotrichum spp.
Penicillosis Penicillium marneffei
Pneumicystosis Pneumocystis carinii

43) What are the commonly used laboratory media for the isolation of fungi from clinical specimen :

Primary recovery media : 

  • Brain-heart infusion agar
  • Mycosel agar

Differential test media

  • Cornmeal agar with Tween 80 and trypan blue
  • Czapek’s agar
  • Niger seed agar
  • Nitrate reduction medium
  • Yeast fermentation broth
  • Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA)

Reference and Sources

  • Tille PM (2014) , Bailey and Scott’s Diagnostic Microbiology, 13th edition, Mosby Elsevier
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About Author

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Sushmita Baniya

Sushmita Baniya completed her Master’s degree in Medical Microbiology from the National College of Science and Technology (NIST), Kathmandu, Nepal. She did her Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from Birendra Multiple Campus, Chitwan, Nepal. She is interested in Genetics and Molecular Biology.

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