Very few view fungi as essential to human life. If asked to consider this diverse kingdom, most would only answer with whether they enjoy mushrooms on their pizzanotwithstanding the fact that there are at the very least 1 million species of fungi thought to outnumber vascular plants by a ratio somewhere between six to one and thirty-three to one. Even so, only 100,000 species of fungi are known to exist while mycologists continue to discover 1000 new species every year. Most notable was the recent
The Fungi Formerly Known as Dentinum Repandum This paper will cover a description of Hydnum repandum, its ecology, and some research involving the species. The first topic to be discussed in this paper is a description of Hydnum repandum, which was until recently referred to as Dentinum repandum. The description of the fungi will start with the appearance of H. repandum, and will be followed by the life cycle of the noted species. The appearance of Hydnum repandum is quite unique. The
1.0 INTRODUCTION Fungi have been significant in both past and modern biotechnological processes (Bennett, 1998). After World War I, a traditional fungal biotechnology has begun and developed into yielding of enzymes, antibiotics, hormones, citric acids, vitamins, and fungicides (Demain, 2000). This list will continue expanding as we moved in this modern century. Fungi definitely bring lots of benefits in pharmaceutical and economic industries. For instance, pharmaceuticals and personal care products
a variety of areas. I am a person who is entering the health care field, and it is inparitive that I know the subject of microbiology and how if effects the world in which we live. Part one of this essay will deal with defining bacteria, viruses, fungi, microbes, and pirons. Part two of the essay will focus on indigenous micro flora that is on and in the body, and part three will describe the structure and replication procedure of viruses. Part one As stated by Prescott, Harley and Klein (1990)
Antibiotics An antibiotic, is defined to be a drug produced by certain microbes. Most doctors use antibiotics to help fight the germs in a patient. Antibiotics are obtained from plants, fungi, air, water, soil, just about anything on earth. Antibiotics kill and attack the germ or virus in the body, but do not hurt the human cells, ordinarily. The antibiotics are used to treat many various types of diseases, such as tuberculosis, syphilis, and several kinds of infections. People have been using
examinations and X rays, to confirm the diagnosis. Communicable diseases are caused by microscopic organisms. Physicians refer to these disease-causing organisms as pathogens. Pathogens that infect humans include a wide variety of bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoans, and parasitic worms. Also, it has been theorized that some proteins called prions may cause infectious diseases. Bacteria are microscopic single-celled organisms at least 1 micron long. Some bacteria species are harmless to humans
reproductive stage the plasmodium or pseudoplasmodium is transformed into one or more reproductive structures called fruiting bodies, each consisting of a stalk topped by a spore-producing capsule that resembles the reproductive structures of many fungi. Eventually the cellulose-walled spores are released and dispersed; they germinate in wet places, releasing naked cells. In a typical plasmodial slime mold the germinated spores go through an ameboid or flagellated swimming stage, followed by sexual
concentrations of inhibiting the growth of or killing bacteria and other microorganisms. These organisms can be bacteria, viruses, fungi, or animals called protozoa. A particular group of these agents is made up of drugs called antibiotics, from the Greek word anti ("against") and bios ("life"). Some antibiotics are produced from living organisms such as bacteria, fungi, and molds. Others are wholly or in part synthetic - that is, produced artificially. Penicillin is perhaps the best known
Cambrian Explosion was the rapid generation of extremely diverse life forms. Life is generally classified with a system going from broad to specific description. Kingdom, the broadest classification, describes whether a given specimen is plant, animal, fungi, protist, or moneran. The next most specific indicator is phylum. The phyla indicate the body design of a taxonomical specimen. Humans, along with all other species that poses a spinal ... ... middle of paper ... ...ore Explosive. Science,
Slime Molds There are over 500 different types of slime molds, or myxomycetes as the scientific world calls them. Slime molds have been difficult to classify for years do to the fact that they exhibit characteristics of both fungi and animals. In the feeding stage, the slime molds moves about as a mass of protoplasm(the plasmodium)feeding on bacteria, spores, and other organic matter, much like an amoeba does. When conditions become unfavorable , the plasmodium changes, taking on the appearance
scientists, making them question whether they truly understand nature's ground rules. That's exactly what prions have done to scientists' understanding of the ground rules for infectiousdiseases. Prions cause diseases,but they aren't viruses or bacteria or fungi or parasites. They are simply proteins, and proteins were never thought to be infectious on their own. Organisms are infectious, proteins are not. Or, at least, they never used to be. Prions entered the public's consciousness during the mad cow epidemic
you should study plant pathology or plant breeding. At some larger universities, you can even study specific types of botany, each with its own department. These departments include argonomy (field crops), microbiology (microbes like bacteria and fungi), horticulture (fruits, ornamentals, and veggies), and plant pathology (diseases pertaining to plants). If you are a people person, you might even be interested in teaching botany or providing public service. After hearing the endless list of career
the species involved: mutualism, parasitism, and commensalism. Symbiosis that results in mutual benefit to the interdependent organisms is commonly known as mutualism. An example of mutualism is the coexistence of certain species of algae and fungi that together compose lichens. Their close association enables them to live in extreme environments, nourished only by light, air, and minerals. Living separately, the alga and fungus would not survive in such conditions. In parasitism, also known
exactly from cell to cell, and how do they direct the structure and behavior of living things? Two American geneticists, George Wells Beadle and Edward Lawrie Tatum, provided one of the first important clues in the early 1940s. Working with the fungi Neurospora and Penicillium, they found that “genes direct the formation of enzymes through the units of which they are composed.” (Annas) Each unit, a polypeptide is produced by a specific gene. This establish the field of molecular genetics.
ecosystems that also include “soils and decaying organic matter, fungi and bacteria, herbs and shrubs, vines and lichens, ferns and mosses, insects and spiders, reptiles and amphibians, birds and mammals, and many other organisms” (Audesirk, 2003). All of these components constitute an intricate web with many biological interconnections. A bird may depend on the upper branches of a tree for nesting, while the tree may depend on the fungi surrounding its roots to obtain water and nutrients. A forest
discovered at St. Mary's Hospital, London in 1929 by Dr. Alexander Fleming. As test continued, Fleming began to realize that he was on the verge of a great discovery. However, he still did not know the identity of the fungus, and had little knowledge of fungi. His crude extracts could be diluted 1,000 times and still be effective in killing bacteria. After years of working on penicillin and going nowhere, many of his co-workers grew tired of hearing about it. The first real test for penicillin came when
Chemistry of Psilocybin and Synaptic Transmitters Involved Psilocybin is a type of hallucinogenic mushroom that is ingested by eating the raw fungi. The mushroom can also be made into a tea and drunk. In some of the later studies done on psilocybin, the drug was synthetically produced and then either inhaled or injected by an IV. The drug enters the blood stream and can cross the blood brain barrier because of it relative metabolic similarity to serotonin (Fuller 1985). This means that
generations is defined as a life cycle in which there is both a multicellular diploid form, the sporophyte, and a multicellular haploid form, the gametophyte. Meiosis in mosses produces haploid spores. This process occurs in a sporangium, a capsule in fungi and plants in which meiosis takes place and haploid spores develop. After fertilization, the sporophyte zygote grows out of the parent gametophyte. At the end of this stalk is the sporangium. Meiosis occurs and the haploid spores disperse. In ferns
time, 98% of them are extinct (Facts). There are an estimated 5-10 million species that exist currently and only 1.5 million have been identified (Sherry, 2). Scientists classify species into six different groups: plants, animals, insects, algae, fungi, and microorganisms (Today’s Situation). In the tropical rainforest alone, most species are disappearing at the rate of 1% a year (Sherry, 6). If the current trend continues, at least 50% of all currently existing species will be either extinct or
knowledge of the physical sciences and mathematics, although specialities may be oriented toward a group of organisms or a level of organization. BOTANY is concerned with plant life, ZOOLOGY with animal life, algology with ALGAE, MYCOLOGY with fungi, MICROBIOLOGY with microorganisms such as protozoa and bacteria, CYTOLOGY with CELLS, and so on. All biological specialties, however, are concerned with life and its characteristics. These characteristics include cellular organization, METABOLISM