Mold Quiz

c) 96. A clinical survey discovered mold in mucus of 96% of patients suffering from chronic sinus infections, a disease which annually impacts more than 20 million adults U.S.

c) Number of cells. Molds are multicellular, filamentous organisms, while yeasts are aggregations of single-cell organisms which aggregate and act as an individual. Interestingly, some fungi can revert from a yeast form to a filamentous form, depending on certain ecological conditions.

Fungi under microscope;(left) Yeast (right) Mould (Photo source: Bob Blaylock, Wikimedia)

b). Penicillin, the first antibiotic, was isolated and discovered in 1928 by Dr. Alexander Fleming from Penicillium mold.

a). Rhizopus fungi create black mold spots on old bread. It is never safe to eat mouldy bread as ingesting black mold can cause nausea, vomiting, and allergic reactions.

a) they look like the Christian Holy Water sprinkler device, called aspergillum.

(up) Aspergillum (Photo Source: Pearson Scott Foresman, Wikipedia); (down) Aspergillus niger conidiophore (Photo source: Kathie Hodge, Flickr).

b). Molds are multicellular, filamentous fungi, while slime molds belong to a more primitive group of organisms called the Protista, which form unicellular or colonial forms such as amoebas and primitive algae.

(left) slime mold (right) mold (Photo source: D. Sadikovic, Mold Busters)

c) 600 000. Furthermore, according to the UNICEF statistics, of all pneumonia-related mortalities of children under the age of five, half can be traced to air pollution.

b) Ants. For more than 50 million years, leaf-cutter ants have been cultivating certain fungi which form mushroom-like structures to feed their larvae. This food source is constantly being attacked by molds. In order to protect their crops, these ants have learned to additionally cultivate certain types of microorganisms, which have antibiotic properties against the pathogenic mold.

Atta columbica queen with workers on fungal substrate (Photo source: Christian R. Linder, Wikimedia)

a) Penicillium/Aspergillus mold are the most common mold type in 38% of the investigated households.

a). The blue veins are the result of Penicillium molds forming colonies in the presence of air. This cheese, even though technically spoiled, is considered safe and a delicacy.