LECTURES IN MYCOLOGY

TOPIC HOURS DATES

TIME
th
13. Introduction to medically important 3 5 July 2019
fungi and general properties of fungi
14. Fungal virulence & Pathogenesis
15. Immunity to fungal infections
1-4 pm
th
16. Superficial fungal infections 3 12 July 2019
– dermatophyte infections
17. Superficial fungal infections
– yeast infections 1-4 pm
th
18. Subcutaneous fungal infections 3 19 July 2019

19. Systemic fungal infections 1-4 pm

th
20. Opportunistic fungal infections 3 26 July 2019
21. Antifungals and antifungal
susceptibility testing 1-4 pm
 Introduction to
Medically Important Fungi
and
General Properties of
Fungi

Prof. Nelun de Silva

 INTRODUCTION
 Fungi
– Belong to Kingdom: fungi
– are a diverse group of saprophytic and
parasitic, eukaryotic organisms
– Number of fungal species range upwards
of 1 million (Heitman, 2011).
– > 300 species are known human
pathogens
– A fungus capable of growth at 37 0C is
potentially pathogenic in a compromised
host.
 Mycoses : Fungal Diseases in humans
 WHERE DO FUNGI GROW? Habitat
 Most are saprobes that decompose dead
organic matter.
 fungi are “heterotrophs”: (different to plants and algae),
an organism deriving its nutritional requirements from
complex organic substances.
– they cannot make their own food but take in organic
matter
– Plant pathogenic fungi cause damage to food
crops, trees, and other plants.
– Some fungi are “commensals” living on the mucous
membranes and skin of mammalian hosts.
 HABITAT
 Being heterotrophic the fungi
require some form of organic carbon for
growth
secrete degradative enzymes, proteases
etc. into their immediate environment
transport the soluble nutrients across their
cell membrane
 Natural Habitat
is soil or water containing decaying
organic matter
 FUNGAL STUCTURE
 Cell Wall
– Composed mainly of chitin which consists
of a polymer of N-acetylglucosamine
( bacterial cell wall contain peptidoglycan)
– Antibiotics that act on peptidoglycan have
no action on fungi
 Cell membrane contains ergosterol
(rather than cholesterol in mammalian cells)
Antifungal amphotericin act by binding to ergosterol
causing pores to appear which disrupts membrane
function leading to cell death
 Similarly
Imidazole antifungal drugs
( clotrimazole, ketoconazole, miconazole)
Triazole antifungal agents
(fluconazole , itraconazole)
interact with the C-14 α-demethylase to block
demethylation of lanosterol to ergosterol,
vital component of cell membrane and
disruption of it`s synthesis results in death of
fungal cells
CLASSIFICATION OF FUNGI
Depends on :
 Characteristic Structures
 Habitats
 Modes of Reproduction
 Types of infections they cause
Fungi occur in two basic forms
 A unicellular or
yeast form
– single-celled fungus
that reproduces by
simple budding
 A filamentous or
mould form
– Fungal filaments are
known as hyphae and
a mass of hyphae
make up the
mycelium.
 Morphological types
 Filamentous fungi
– aerial mycelia & vegetative mycelia
 Yeasts
– unicellular budding cells
 eg Candida, Cryptococcus

 Dimorphic fungi
– mycelial form at 22o C
– yeast from at 37o C
 eg. Histoplasma capsulatum
Filamentous (mould-like) Fungi
 Thallus (vegetative body) –mass
of threads with many branches
resembling cotton ball
 Mass: mycelium
 Threads: hyphae,
 tubular cells that in some fungi
are divided into segments –
septate
 Other fungi the hyphae are
 uninterrupted by crosswalls -
 nonseptate
 Grow by branching and tip
elongation
 YEAST like FUNGI
 Exist as populations of
single, unconnected,
spheroid cells.
 like many bacteria, but
10 times larger than a
typical bacterial cell
 Yeasts reproduce by
budding
 DIMORPHIC FUNGI
 Some fungi have two growth forms such as
certain soil-dwelling moulds that are primary
respiratory pathogens.
 Their conidia become airborne and, when
inhaled, can survive and undergo
morphogenesis to the pathogenic yeast form
at 370 C.
 Specimens, such as sputum, when plated on
mycologic medium and incubated at 300 C,
grow as moulds
REPRODUCTION
 SPORULATION
 The principle way in which fungi reproduce and
spread within the environment
 Fungal spores are metabolically dormant,
protected cells, released by the mycelium in
large numbers
 Borne by the air or water to new sites , where
they germinate and establish new colonies
 Spores can be generated sexually or asexually
 ASEXUAL SPORULATION
(MITOSIS)

Colour of a particular fungus seen on bread, culture plate

is due to the conidia, easily airborne and disseminated
Asexual Reproduction-
Conidia of Aerial mycelia

Sporangiospores
 Asexual Reproduction-
Conidia of Aerial mycelia

Macroconidia Microconidia
 Asexual Reproduction-
Conidia of vegetative mycelia
Blastospores

Chlamydospores
 Asexual Reproduction-
Conidia of vegetative mycelia

Arthrospores
 SEXUAL SPORULATION
meiosis

Relatively rare compared to asexual sporulation, and spore shape often

Used as a method of identification