Eukaryotic microbes: Fungi and Protozoa

The Fungi
 Eukaryotic Micro-organisms: The Fungi

•The scientific study of fungi is called mycology

•Eukaryotic, non-photosynthetic organisms composed of chitin

•Fungi include: molds, yeasts and fleshy fungi (mushrooms)

How do fungi differ from bacteria?

!3
 FUNGI - an overview

Are found wherever moisture, the appropriate

temperature and suitable organic nutrients are present

Exist primarily as filamentous hyphae

a collectionofmycelium
and a mass of hyphae is called a mycelium
v
Fungi secrete exoenzymes to digest insoluble matter,
then absorb the solubilized nutrients
A large number of fungi are plant parasites - resulting in many
economically significant diseases of crops
Some of the consequences of ergotism

ingestion of the alkaloids produced by

the Claviceps purpurea fungus that
infects rye and other cereals
 Fungal Physiology and Nutrition

Fungi require organic compounds for energy and as a

source of carbon (they are chemo-heterotrophs)

Most fungi are aerobic or facultatively anaerobic (yeasts)

They feed by secreting extra-cellular enzymes that digest complex

organic materials (e.g. polysaccharides or proteins) into their
monomeric constituents (sugars, peptides, amino acids)

Such monomeric constituents are then taken up by fungi as a

source of energy, carbon and other nutrients
 Fungal Morphology

•Fungi are larger than bacteria and range in size from 1 - 30 m

•Fungi can exist as either molds, yeast (or both)
•Molds form large multicellular aggregates of long branching filaments
called hyphae
•Molds are sometimes referred to as filamentous fungi
•Yeasts are single cells that rarely form filaments
 Fleshy Fungi

•Fleshy fungi produce large, macroscopic reproductive structures

(mushrooms and toadstools)

•Most of the organism grows beneath the soil as microscopic filaments

called hyphae
Morphology of the Fleshy Fungi
The reproductive structures of fungi are called spores

•Each spore is capable of generating a new

organism / colony

•Fungi may produce spores that are either:

sexual or asexual

•Asexual spores are produced by mitosis and cell division

•Sexual spores are the products of a sexual cycle

and alternate between the diploid and haploid state

•Many fungi can produce both sexual and asexual spores

Fungal spores are produced in vast numbers
 ackstructure

TBI of
patches mycelium

Molds

•Hyphae of a mold colony grow as an

intertwined mass of filaments called
a mycellium
•Molds are classified and identified partially on
the basis of whether their hyphae are:

•Septate or coenocytic (aseptate)

nonseptatehypha
 ofmolds
Representation

Asexual life cycle of a non-septate fungi

germination
tube

hypha

mycelium
Mold Spores

•Mold spores have the following characteristics:

•They are generally produced in large numbers

•They are easily dispersed

•Many are resistant to adverse environmental
conditions
 Vegetative Reproduction of Fungi

•Occurs by fragmentation of hyphae

•Results in the formation of new mold colonies

•Fragmented cells produce a new colony that is identical to the parent

 The Yeasts

•Yeast cells are usually single cells (5 - 8 m)

•Only a few yeasts reproduce by binary fission

•Most yeast reproduce by the asexual process of budding

•Sometimes secondary buds develop on a daughter bud

before it separates from the parent yeast cell

•This bud-on-bud phenomenon can result in the development of

chains of elongated cells called pseudohyphae (false hyphae)

•Some yeast species can exist has haploid cells (as well as diploid
cells)
Budding yeast cell growth – time lapse
Life cycle of budding yeast
 Classification / characterization of Fungi

Characterization of yeast (like bacteria) relies

on biochemical tests

Characterization of multicellular fungi relies on

appearance, colony characteristics and the type
of reproductive spores produced

DNA sequences are used for classification

Generalized phylogenetic
tree based on 18S rRNA
gene sequences
 Cultivation of Fungi

•Most fungi grow best at a pH ~5 (acidophiles)

•They can tolerate extremely high sugar concentrations (osmotrophs)

•Most fungi are mesophiles and grow best at temperatures

around 25oC

•In “general” they have adapted to environments that would typically

exclude bacteria
 Ecology of Fungi

•Most fungi are saprophytes - free-living organisms that obtain

nutrients from dead organic material

•However, many fungi are parasites and virtually any plant or

animal is susceptible to fungal attack

•Saprophytic fungi produce extracellular enzymes that degrade

most natural macromolecules

•They are therefore important decomposers in biochemical cycles

 Parasitic Fungi

•Parasitic fungi acquire nutrients by attacking animals or plants

•Some fungi are carnivorous - they kill and eat prey

(nematode-trapping fungus)
 Fungal Diseases of Humans

•Diseases caused by fungi are collectively called mycoses

•Mycoses are divided into four general categories based on

the primary tissue affinity of the pathogen
Fungal infections of the skin
Some yeast species are also natural inhabitants of man
and animals.

Yeasts can be found on the surface of the skin and in the

intestinal tracts of warm-blooded animals, where they may live
symbiotically or as parasites.

In humans, the common "yeast infection” Candidiasis is caused

by the yeast-like fungus Candida albicans.

In addition to being the causative agent in vaginal yeast

infections Candida is also a cause of diaper rash and thrush of
the mouth and throat.
Diaper rash
Some dimorphic fungi can cause disease in humans
Oral thrush – Candida albicans
Histoplasmosis “cave disease” is an infection
caused by breathing in spores of a fungus often
found in bird and bat droppings
•Some fungi produce toxic substances that poison a person
who ingests them

•Such toxins are called mycotoxins

•Not all mycotoxins can be destroyed by cooking

Some fungi produce toxins (mycotoxins) that are harmful to animals
!42
Eukaryotic microbes: The Protozoa
 Protozoan Morphology

•Protozoa are unicellular, eukaryotic, chemo-heterotrophs

•They have no cell walls (unlike fungi and non-photosynthetic algae)

•Some protozoa possess a structure called a pellicle

•A pellicle is a protein layer that increases the rigidity of

protozoa cell membrane

•A pellicle also provides protection from osmotic stress

and is responsible for the characteristic shape of those
protozoa that have a stable morphologies
Some representative protozoa
 Protozoan Morphology

•Protozoa range in length from about 2 m to 20,000 m

•Most protozoa are polymorphic and undergo morphological

changes during different phases of their life cycle

•Some of these protozoa alternate between two forms

•The actively feeding tropozoites

•And the dormant cyst

•Trophozoites feed and reproduce as long as environmental conditions
are favorable

•Unfavourable conditions trigger transformation into a cyst

•Cyst formation is common among protozoa but not all protozoa form cysts

•Protective cysts are unnecessary if the organisms are transmitted

directly between living host without exposure to hostile
environments (i.e. via vectors)

•Vectors protect parasites from extreme changes in:

- temperature
- moisture
- nutrient availability
 Nutrition and metabolism
•They obtain their nutrients in one of two ways:

•Some are osmotrophs

- Osmotrophs absorb dissolved nutrients directly through their
cell membrane
•Some are phagotrophs
- Phagotrophs (e.g. amoebas) feed by engulfing soluble organic material
or solid food particles formed in intra-cytoplasmic vesicles
•Without a cell wall for protection from osmotic lysis
many protozoa are threatened by the problem of excess
water accumulation in their cytoplasm

•Protozoa solve this problem with osmo-regulatory organelles

called contractile vacuoles

•Water accumulates within these vacuoles and when they are full
the vacuoles contract and expel their contents from the cell
The contractile vacuole in action
So lets have a look at some typical protozoa……..
 Ciliate chemotactically orientating to bacteria

Ciliate

Bacteria
Another ciliate
A large amoeba
 Reproduction

•Most protozoa reproduce by both asexual and sexual processes

(although some have no sexual cycle)

•Others reproduce asexually in one host and sexually in another

•The principle mode of asexual reproduction is fission and

binary fission is the most commons means
Asexual reproduction: Modes of binary fission
 Classification of the protozoa

•Any eukaryotic micro-organism that cannot be classified as a fungus

or an algae is a protozoan

•The availability of DNA sequences has made it clear that the

current classification scheme for protozoa and the protists does not
reflect evolutionary patterns and taxonomic relatedness
 Diseases caused by protozoa

•Pathogenic protozoa initiate infection in one of four primary

sites in humans

•The intestines
•The genitals
•The bloodstream
•The nervous system

•Of these sites the intestine is the only one in the human
body normally populated by harmless protozoa
Routes of infection
•Among the most debilitating protozoan blood infections are
trypanosomiasis and malaria

•Trypanosomes (trypanosomiasis) invade the central nervous

system and eventually cause mental deterioration, coma and death

•The vector is the tsetse fly

Malaria

•More than a million people die of malaria every year

•Virtually all malaria deaths occur in areas inhabited by

the anopheles mosquito

•The disease occurs because Plasmodium is present in the

saliva of an anopheles mosquito
 Plasmodia life cycle

Regions of the world where

malaria is endemic
Malarial parasite life cycle in a human host
Leishmaniasis: caused by a flagellated protozoa

The protozoa
is introduced via the
bite of an insect - called
a sand fly

mucocutaneous cutaneous

World-wide there are about 2,000,000 new cases every year

and 60,000 deaths
Leishmaniasis