Introduction to Medical Mycology – PST05103 Pharmaceutical Microbiology
NTA Level 5 • Semester 1 • PST05103 Introduction to Medical Mycology Pharmaceutical Microbiology • Source Session/Topic 31 Full source-text version: all educational wording from the extracted learning source is retained; only presenter/tutor metadata and web-layout noise are removed, while formatting is improved for readability. Session 31: Introduction to Medical Mycology Total Session Time: 120 minutes Pre-requisites • Human anatomy and physiology Students Learning Tasks By the end of this session students are expected to be able to: • Define common terms used in mycology • Describe occurrences and distributions of fungi • Describe the structure of a fungal cell • Classify fungi based on their sexual spores (zygomycota, Ascomycota, basidiomycotina, deuteromycota) Resources Needed: • Flip charts, marker pens, and masking tape • Black/white board and chalk/whiteboard markers • Hand out 35.1: Reproduction in Fungi SESSION OVERVIEW |Step |Time |Activity/ |Content | | | |Method | | |1 |5 minutes |Presentation |Introduction, Learning Tasks | |2 |20 minutes |Presentation |Common Terminologies used in | | | | |Mycology | |3 |10 minutes |Presentation |Occurrence and Distribution of | | | | |Fungi | |4 |15 minutes |Buzzing/ |Characteristics of Fungi | | | |Presentation | | |5 |25 minutes |Presentation |Fungal Growth and Reproduction | |6 |25 minutes |Presentation |Structure of Fungal Cells | |7 |10 minutes |Presentation |Classification of Fungi | |8 |5 minutes |Presentation |Key Points | |9 |5 minutes |Presentation |Evaluation | SESSION CONTENTS STEP 1: Presentation of Session Title and Learning Tasks (5 minutes) READ or ASK students to read the learning tasks and clarify ASK students if they have any questions before continuing STEP 2: Common Terminologies Used in Mycology (20 minutes) • Mycology o Mycology is the study of fungi • Mycosis o Mycosis is a term referring to infections caused by fungi • Mould o Hyphal or mycelial colony or form of growth • Mycelium o Mass or mat of hyphae, mould colony • Yeast o Unicellular, spherical to ellipsoid fungal cells that usually reproduce by budding • Budding o A common mode of asexual reproduction, typical of yeasts o During mitosis, the parent cell wall protrudes outwardly and enlarges to form a nascent bud that contains the progeny nucleus o A fungal cell may produce single or multiple buds • Spore o A specialized propagule with enhanced survival value, such as resistance to adverse conditions or structural features that promote dispersion. Spores may result from asexual (e.g. conidia, sporangiospores) or sexual reproduction • Dematiaceous fungi o Fungi whose cell walls contain melanin, which imparts a brown to black pigment • Dimorphic fungi o Fungi that have two growth forms, such as a mold and a yeast, which develop under different growth conditions (e.g. Blastomyces dermatitidis forms hyphae in vitro and yeasts in tissue) They are the cause of most fungal infection • Hyphae o Tubular, branching filaments of fungal cells, the mould form of growth. Septate hyphae are separated by porous cross-walls (or septa) and aseptate hyphae are continuous and also known as coenocitic hyphae. o o Vegetative or substrate hyphae anchor the colony and absorb nutrients o Aerial hyphae project above the colony and bear the reproductive structures • Pseudohyphae o Chains of elongated buds or blastoconidia; the septations between cells are constricted STEP 3: Occurrence and Distribution of Fungi (10 minutes) • Fungi represent one of the largest groups of living organisms and they play major roles in ecosystem processes • Fungi are among the most widely distributed organisms on Earth and are of great environmental and medical importance • Many fungi are free-living in soil or water; others form parasitic or symbiotic relationships with plants or animals • Fungi are distinguished from all other living organisms by their modes of vegetative growth and nutrient intake • Fungi grow from the tips of filaments (hyphae) that make up the bodies of the organisms (mycelia) and they digest organic matter externally before absorbing it into their mycelia • Fungi are either terrestrial or aquatic, the latter living in freshwater or marine environments • Freshwater species are usually found in clean, cool water because they do not tolerate high degrees of salinity • However, some species are found in slightly brackish water, and a few thrive in highly polluted streams • Soil that is rich in organic matter furnishes an ideal habitat for a large number of species; only a small number of species are found in drier areas or in habitats with little or no organic matter • Fungi are found in all temperate and tropical regions of the world where there is sufficient moisture to enable them to grow • A few species of fungi live in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, although they are rare and are more often found living in symbiosis with algae in the form of lichens STEP 4: Characteristics of Fungi (15 minutes) |Activity: Buzzing (5 minutes) | | | |ASK students to pair up and buzz on the following exercise for 2 | |minutes | | | |List the characteristics of fungi? | | | |ALLOW few pairs to respond and let other pairs to add on points not | |mentioned | | | |WRITE their response on the flip chart/board | | | |CLARIFY and SUMMARIZE by using the content below | • Fungi (yeast& molds) are eukaryotic organisms • Cell wall of fungi is made up of chitin o Chitin is a polysaccharide composed of long chain of N- acetyleglucasamine. o Also the fungal cell wall contains other polysaccharide, β-glucan • Fungi are heterotrophic in nutrition • They do not have chlorophyl • Reproduce by sexual and asexual methods • Most are multicellular (moulds) and some are unicellular (yeasts) STEP 5: Growth and Reproduction in Fungi (25 minutes) Fungal Growth • A typical fungus consists of a mass of branched, tubular filaments enclosed by a rigid cell wall made up a rigid polymer, chitin • The filaments, called hyphae (singular hypha), branch repeatedly into a complicated, radially expanding network called the