Introduction to Mycology

ANCHELA YAP UY-BIAG, MD, MBA

 Characteristics
• Approximately 80,000 species of fungi have been described
• Less than 400 are medically important
• Less than 50 species cause more than 90% of the fungal infections of
humans and other animals
• Most species of fungi are beneficial to mankind
• They reside in nature and are essential in breaking down and recycling
organic matter
• Some fungi greatly enhance our quality of life by contributing to the
production of food and spirits, including cheese, bread, and beer
• Others have served medicine by providing useful bioactive secondary
metabolites such as antibiotics (e.g., penicillin) and immunosuppressive
drugs (e.g., cyclosporine)
• Eukaryotic organisms
• Most fungi are obligate or facultative aerobes
• Chemotrophs - secreting enzymes that degrade a wide variety of organic
substrates into soluble nutrients which are then passively absorbed or
taken into the cell by active transport
• All fungi have an essential rigid cell wall that determines
their shape
• Cell walls are composed largely of long chains of
polysaccharides as well as glycoproteins and lipids
• Cell wall polysaccharides may activate the complement
cascade and provoke an inflammatory reaction; they are
poorly degraded by the host and can be detected with
special stains.
• Cell walls release immunodominant antigens that may
elicit cellular immune responses and diagnostic
antibodies
• Some yeasts and molds have melanized cell walls,
imparting a brown or black pigment. Such fungi are
dematiaceous
• Imperfect fungi: lack sexual reproduction;
they are represented only by an anamorph,
the mitotic or asexual reproductive state.
They are identified on the basis of asexual
reproductive structures (ie, mitospores).
• Perfect fungi: capable of sexual reproduction,
which is the teleomorph.
 Forms of Fungi
• Mold: growth occurs by production of
multicellular filamentous colonies (Hyphae or
mycelia)
– Hyphae: Tubular, branching filaments (2–10 m in
width) of fungal cells
• Most hyphal cells are separated by porous cross-walls or
septa, but the zygomycetous hyphae are characteristically
sparsely septate
• Vegetative or substrate hyphae anchor the colony and
absorb nutrients
• Aerial hyphae project above the colony and bear the
reproductive structures
– Mycelium: Mass or mat of hyphae, mold colony
• Yeasts: Unicellular, spherical to ellipsoid (3–15 m)
fungal cells that usually reproduce by budding
– Pseudohyphae: Chains of elongated buds or
blastoconidia
– Blastoconidia(blastospores): conidial formation
through a budding process (eg, yeasts).
• Dimorphic fungi: Fungi that have two growth
forms, such as a mold and a yeast, which develop
under different growth conditions (eg,
Blastomyces dermatitidis forms hyphae in vitro
and yeasts in tissue).
• Fungi can produce spores to enhance their
survival during adverse conditions and promote
dispersion.
– Asexual spores are genetically identical (mitosis)
• Conidia: produced either from the transformation of a
vegetative yeast or hyphal cell or from a specialized
conidiogenous cell, which may be simple or complex and
elaborate. Conidia may be formed on specialized hyphae,
termed conidiophores. Microconidia are small, and
macroconidia are large or multicellular
• Sporangiospores: Asexual structures characteristic of
zygomycetes; they are mitotic spores produced within an
enclosed sporangium, often supported by one
sporangiophore
• Arthroconidia (arthrospores): Conidia that
result from the fragmentation of hyphal cells
• Chlamydospores (chlamydoconidia): Large,
thick-walled, usually spherical conidia
produced from terminal or intercalary hyphal
cells.
• Phialoconidia: Conidia that are produced by a
"vase-shaped" conidiogenous cell termed a
phialide (e.g. Aspergillus fumigatus)
– Sexual
• Ascospores: Following meiosis, four to eight
meiospores form within an ascus.
• Basidiospores: Following meiosis, four
meiospores usually form on the surface of a
specialized structure, a club-shaped basidium.
• Zygospores: Following meiosis, a large, thick-
walled zygospore develops.
ASCOSPORES
BASIDIOSPORES
ZYGOSPORES
 Classification
• Based on its mode of sexual reproduction,
phenotypic properties (e.g. morphology and
physiology), and phylogenetic relationships
• Four phyla:
– Chytridiomycota
– Zygomycota
– Ascomycota (largest phylum, more than 60% of the
known fungi and about 85% of the human pathogens )
– Basidiomycota
 Types of reproduction Hyphae
Sexual Asexual
Zygomycota zygospores sporangia Sparsely septate
(Rhizopus sp.
Mucor sp.)
Ascomycota ascospores conidia Mold forms
• Yeasts have septate
(Saccharomyces hyphae
Candida sp.)
• Molds
(Coccidioides
Blastomyces
Trichophyton)
Basidiomycota basidiospores Complex septa
(Cryptococcus sp.
Mushrooms)
 Mycoses
• Most pathogenic fungi are exogenous, their natural
habitats being water, soil, and organic debris
• Mycoses with the highest incidence—candidiasis and
dermatophytosis
• Mycoses may be classified as superficial, cutaneous,
subcutaneous, systemic, and opportunistic
• Most patients who develop opportunistic infections
have serious underlying diseases and compromised
host defenses
• Primary systemic mycoses also occur in such patients,
and the opportunists may also infect
immunocompetent individuals
Major Mycoses & Causative Fungi
Category Mycosis Causative Fungal
Agent
Superficial Pityriasis versicolor Malassezia sp.
Tinea nigra Hortaea werneckii
White Piedra Trichosporon sp.
Black Piedra Piedraia hortae
Cutaneous Dermatophytosis Microsporum sp.
Trichophyton sp.
Epidermophyton
floccosum
Candidiasis of skin, Candida albicans
mucosa, nails
Category Mycosis Causative Fungal Agent
Subcutaneous Sporotrichosis Sporothrix schenckii
Chromoblastomycosis Phialophora verrucosa
Fonsecaea pedrosoi
Mycetoma Pseudallescheria boydii
Madurella mycetomatis
Phaeohyphomycosis Exophiala
Bipolaris
Exserohilum
Endemic Coccidioidomycosis Coccidioides posadasii
(primary, Coccidioides immitis
systemic) Histoplasmosis Histoplasma capsulatum
Blastomycosis Blastomyces dermatitidis
Paracoccidioidomycosis Paracoccidioides
brasiliensis
Category Mycosis Causative Fungal Agent
Opportunistic Systemic candidiasis Candida albicans
Cryptococcosis Cryptococcus neoformans
Cryptococcus gattii
Aspergillosis Aspergillus fumigatus
Hyalohyphomycosis Fusarium
Paecilomyces
Trichosporon
Phaeohyphomycosis Cladophialophora bantiana
Alternaria
Cladosporium
Bipolaris
Exserohilum
other dematiaceous molds
Mucormycosis (zygomycosis) Rhizopus
Absidia
Cunninghamella
other zygomycetes
Penicilliosis Penicillium marneffeii
Superficial Mycoses
 Pityriasis versicolor
• A chronic mild superficial infection of the stratum corneum
usually on the chest, upper back, arms, or abdomen caused
by Malassezia globosa, M restricta, and other members of
the M furfur complex
• Malassezia species are lipophilic yeasts, and most require
lipid in the medium for growth
• Diagnosis is confirmed by direct microscopic examination of
scrapings of infected skin, treated with 10–20% KOH or
stained with calcofluor white
• Short unbranched hyphae and spherical cells are observed
• Treated with daily applications of selenium sulfide, topical
or oral azoles
 Tinea nigra
• Also known as tinea nigra palmaris, is a superficial
chronic and asymptomatic infection of the stratum
corneum caused by the dematiaceous fungus Hortaea
(Exophiala) werneckii
• More prevalent in warm coastal regions and among
young women
• Microscopic examination of skin scrapings from the
periphery of the lesion will reveal branched, septate
hyphae and budding yeast cells with melaninized cell
walls
• Responds to treatment with keratolytic solutions,
salicylic acid, or azole antifungal drugs
 Piedra
• Black piedra is a nodular infection of the hair shaft
caused by Piedraia hortai
• White piedra, due to infection with Trichosporon
species, presents as larger, softer, yellowish
nodules on the hairs
• Axillary, pubic, beard, and scalp hair may be
infected
• Treatment for both types consists of removal of
hair and application of a topical antifungal agent
• Piedra is endemic in tropical underdeveloped
countries
Black Piedra
White Piedra
Cutaneous Mycoses
 Dermatophytosis
• Among the most prevalent infections in the world
• They are not debilitating or life-threatening—yet
millions of dollars are expended annually in their
treatment
• In skin they are diagnosed by the presence of
hyaline, septate, branching hyphae or chains of
arthroconidia
• In culture, the many species are closely related
and often difficult to identify
Tinea corporis
Tinea unguium
Tinea pedis
Tinea cruris
Microsporum sp.
Trichophyton sp.
Epidermophyton floccosum
Endemic (Primary, Systemic)
Coccidioidomycosis
Paracoccidioidomycosis
Histoplasmosis
 Blastomycosis
• B dermatitidis is a thermally dimorphic fungus that grows as
a mold in culture, producing hyaline, branching septate
hyphae and conidia
• At 37°C or in the host, it converts to a large, singly budding
yeast cell
• B dermatitidis causes blastomycosis, a chronic infection
with granulomatous and suppurative lesions that is initiated
in the lungs, whence dissemination may occur to any organ
but preferentially to the skin and bones
• The disease has been called North American blastomycosis
because it is endemic and most cases occur in the United
States and Canada
Opportunistic Mycoses
 Candidiasis
• Several species of Candida are capable of causing
candidiasis
• They are members of the normal flora of the skin, mucous
membranes, and gastrointestinal tract
• Candidiasis is the most common systemic mycosis
• In culture or tissue, Candida species grow as oval, budding
yeast cells (3–6 m in size)
• They also form pseudohyphae when the buds continue to
grow but fail to detach
• Candida albicans is dimorphic; it can also produce true
hyphae on agar media or within 24 hours at 37°C or room
temperature, producing soft, cream-colored colonies with a
yeasty odor
 Cryptococcosis
• also called European blastomycosis, or
torulosis
• caused by Cryptococcocus neoformans and C.
bacillispora which are often found in pigeon
droppings
• In disseminated cryptococcosis, the fungus
spreads from the respiratory system to the
central nervous system, causing meningitis
Aspergillosis
Thank you!