GROWTH

 One of the most important aspects of sanitary microbiology is understanding and

control of microbial growth.
 The survival of pathogenic microorganisms as well as the sterilisation of waste is
related to growth or lake of growth.
 The most common means of bacterial reproduction is binary fission; one cell
divides, producing two cells. If we start with a single bacterium, the increase in
population is by geometric progression;
1 2 22 23 24 25......2n
 Bacteria growing in solid media form colonies. Each colony represent a clone of
the cells derived from a single parent cell.
 In liquid media, growth is diffuse.
 Bacterial growth may be considered at two levels, increase in the size of
individual cell and increase in the number of the cells.
 Growth in numbers can be studied by bacterial count. Two types of bacterial
count can be made- total count and viable count.
 The total count gives total number of the cells in the sample, irrespective of
whether they are living or not.
 The viable count measure the numbers of living cells, that is, cells capable of
multiplication.

 BACTERIAL GROWTH PATTERNS

 When a bacterium is seeded into a suitable liquid medium and incubated, its
growth follows a definite course.
 If bacterial counts are made at intervals after inoculation and plotted in relation to
time, a growth curve is obtained.

The curve show the following phase.

1. Lag Phase:
 Immediately following the seeding of a culture medium, there is no appreciable
increase in numbers, though there may be an increase in the size of the cells.

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 GROWTH
 This initial period is the time requirement, during which necessary enzymes and
metabolic intermediates are built up in adequate quantities for multiplication to
proceed.
 The duration of the lag phase varies of culture medium and environmental factors
such as temperature.

2. Log (logarithmic) or exponential phase:

 Following the lag phase, the cells start dividing and their numbers increase
exponentially or by geometric progression with time.
 There is excess of foods around microbes.
 During this phase, microbes are growing at their maximum rate.
 At the same time they are using organic matter from the solution at maximum rate.
 The maximum rate of stabilisation of organic matter occurs during log phase.
 If the logarithm of the viable counts is plotted against time, a straight line will be
obtained.

3. Stationary phase:
 After a varying period of exponential growth, cell division stops due to depletion of
nutrients accumulation of toxic products.
 The numbers of progeny cells formed is just enough to replace the number of cells
formed is just enough to replace the number of the cells that die.
 The viable count remains stationary as equilibrium exists between the dying cells
and the newly formed cells.

4. Phase of decline:
 This is the phase when the population decreases due to cell death.
 Besides nutritional exhaustion and toxic accumulations, cell death may also be
caused by autolytic enzyme.

 The various stages of the growth curve are associated with morphological and
physiological alterations of the cells.
 Bactria have the maximum cell size towards the end of the lag phase.
 In the log phase cells are smaller and stain uniformly.
 In the stationary phase cells frequently are gram variable and show irregular
staining due to the presence of intracellular storage granules. Speculations occur
at this stage.

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 Aerobic Bacteria: “Require oxygen for growth and can grow when incubated in
an air atmosphere (i.e. 21 percent oxygen).
 Anaerobic Bacteria: “Do not use oxygen to obtain energy; moreover, oxygen is
toxic for them and they cannot grow when incubated in an air atmosphere. Some
can tolerant low level of oxygen (nonstringent or tolerant anaerobes), but others
(stringent or strict anaerobes) cannot tolerant even low levels and may die upon
brief exposure to air.”
 Facultatively anaerobic bacteria: “Do not require oxygen for growth, although
they may use it for energy production if it is available. They are not inhibited by
oxygen and usually grow as well under an air atmosphere as they do in the
absence of oxygen.”
 Microaerophilic Bacteria: “Require low level of oxygen for growth but cannot
tolerant the level of oxygen present in an atmosphere.”

 CULTIVATION OF AEROBIC BACTERIA:

 To grow aerobic or facultative bacteria in tubes or small flasks, incubation of the
medium under normal atmospheric conditions is generally satisfactory.
 When aerobic organisms are to be grown in large quantities, it is advantageous
to increase the exposure of the medium to the atmosphere.
 This can be accomplished by dispensing the medium in shallow layers, for which
special containers are available.
 Aeration can also be increased by constantly shaking the inoculated liquid
cultures.

 CULTIVATION OF ANAEROBIC BACTERIA:

 Stringent anaerobes can be grown only by taking special precautions to exclude
all atmospheric oxygen from the medium.
1. Prereduced media:
 During preparation the culture medium is boiled for the several minutes to
drive off most of the dissolved oxygen.
 A reducing agent e.g. cysteine, is added further lower the oxygen content.
 Oxygen free N2 is bubbled through the medium to keep it anaerobic.
 The medium then dispensed into tubes which are being flushed with
oxygen-free N2, stoppered tightly, and sterilized by autoclaving.
 Such tubes can be used for many months before being used.
 During inoculation, the tubes are continuously flushed with oxygen-free
CO2 by means of a cannula, restoppered and incubated.
2. Anaerobic chamber:
 A plastic anaerobic glove box that contains an atmosphere of H2, CO2,
and N2.
 Culture media are placed within the chamber by means of an air lock which
can be evacuated and refilled with N2.
 From the air lock the media are placed within the main chamber.
 Any O2 in the media is slowly removed by reaction with the H 2, forming
water; this reaction is added by a palladium catalyst.
 After being rendered oxygen-free, the media are inoculated within the
chamber and incubated.
 Nonstringent anaerobes can be cultured within an anaerobic jar.

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 Inoculated media are placed in the jar along with an H 2 + CO2 generating
system.
 After the jar is sealed, the oxygen present in the atmosphere within the jar,
as well as that dissolved in the culture medium, is gradually used up
through reaction with the hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst.

 TEMPERATURE:

 All processes of growth are depended on the chemical reactions and the rates of
these reactions are influenced by temperature, the pattern of bacterial growth
can be profoundly influenced by this conditions.
 For each species there is a ‘temperature range’, and growth does not occur
above the maximum or below the minimum of the range.
 The temperature that allows for most rapid growth during a short period of time
(12 to 24 h) is known as the optimum growth temperature.
 On the basis of their temperature relationships bacteria are divided into three
main groups:
1 Mesophilic:
 Bacteria which grow best at temperature of 25-40 ̊C are called Mesophilic.
 All parasites of warm blooded animals are Mesophilic.
 Within the group of Mesophilic bacteria, some like Pseudomonas
aeruginosa have a wide range (5-43 ̊C), while other like the gonococcus
have a restricted range (30-39 ̊C).
2 Psychrophilic:
 Bacteria which grow at temperature below 20 ̊C, some of them even
growing at temperature as low as -7 ̊C.
 They are soil and water saprophytes and through not of direct medical
importance, may cause of spoilage of refrigerated food.
3 Thermophiles:
 This is the non-pathogenic bacteria; grow best at high temperature, 55-80
̊C.
 They may cause spoilage of under processed canned food.
 Some thermophiles (like Bacillus stearothermophilus) form spores that are
thermophilic bacteria have been identified which can grow at temperature
as high as 250 ̊C.
 Bacteria also differ in the effect of temperature on viability.
 Heat is an important method for the destruction of microorganisms (sterilization),
moist heat causing coagulation and denaturation of proteins and dry heat
causing oxidation and charring.
 Moist heat is more lethal then dry heat.
 The lowest temperature that kills bacterium under standard conditions in a given
time is known as thermal death point.
 Under moist conditions most vegetative, Mesophilic bacteria have a thermal
death point between 50 and 65 ̊C and most spores between 100 and 120 ̊C.
 At low temperature some species die rapidly but most survive well.
 Storage in the refrigerator (3-5 ̊C) or deep freezer cabinet ( -30 to -70 ̊C) is used
for preservation of cultures.
 Rapid freezing as with solid carbon dioxide or the use of stabiliser such as
glycerol minimises the death of the cells on freezing.

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 CULTURE MEDIA

 Media is a substance used to provide nutrients for the growth and multiplication
of microorganisms.
 Media have been classified in many ways:
1. Solid media, liquid media, semisolid media.
2. Simple media, complex media, synthetic media, special media.
3. Special media are futher divisible into: enriched media, enrichment media,
selective media, indicator or differential media, sugar media and transport
media.
 Simple Media (basal media):
 Nutrient broth is an example of this media.
 It consists of peptone, meat extract, sodium chloride and water.
 Nutrient agar, made by adding 2 % agar into nutrient broth is the simplest
and most common medium in routine diagnostic laboratories.
 If the concentration of agar is reduced to 0.2 – 0.5 %, semisolid or sloppy
agar is obtained which enable motile organisms to spread.
 Increasing concentration of agar to 6 % prevent spreading or swarming by
organisms such as Proteus.

 Complex media:
 These have added ingredients for special purposes or for bringing out
certain characteristics or providing special nutrients required for growth of
the bacterium under study.

 Synthetic or defined media:

 These media are prepared from pure chemical substances and the exact
composition of the medium is known.
 These are used for various special studies such as metabolic
requirements.
 Simple peptone water medium, 1% peptone with 0.5% NaCl in water, may
be considered a semidefined medium since it composition is approximately
known.

 Enriched media:
 In these media, substances such as blood, serum, or egg are added to
basal medium.
 They are used to grow bacteria which are more exacting in their nutritional
needs. E.g. blood agar, chocolate agar and egg medium.
 Enrichment medium:
 In mixed culture, or in materials containing more than one bacterium, the
bacterium to be isolated is often overgrown by the unwanted bacteria.
 Usually the non-pathogenic or commensal bacteria tend to overgrow the
pathogenic ones, for example S.typhi being overgrown by E.coli in cultures
from feces.
 In such situation, substances which have a stimulating effect on the
bacteria to be grown or an inhibitory effect on those to be suppressed are
incorporated in the medium.

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 If such substances are added to a liquid medium, the result is an absolute
increase in the numbers of the wanted bacterium relative to the other
bacteria. Such media are called as enrichment media.
 For example, tetrathionate broth where the tetrathionate inhibits coliforms
while allowing typhoids-paratyphoid bacilli to grow freely, and selenite F
broth for dysentery bacilli.

 Selective media:
 If the inhibitory substances added to a solid medium, it enables greater
number of the required bacterium to form colonies than the other bacteria.
Such solid media known as selective media
 For example, desoxycholate citrate medium for dysentery bacilli.

 Indicator media:
 These media contain an indicator which changes colour when a bacterium
grows in them.
 For example incorporation of sulphite in Wilson and Blair medium.
 S. typhi reduces sulphite to sulphide in the presence of glucose and the
colonies of S. Typhi have a black metallic sheen.
 Potassium tellurite in McLeod’s medium is reduced to metallic tellurium by
the diphtheria bacillus to produce black colonies.

 Differential media:
 A medium which has substances incorporated in it, enabling it to bring out
differing characteristics of bacteria and thus helping to distinguish between
them, is called a differential medium.
 For example, MacConkey medium which consists of peptone, lactose,
agar, neutral red and taurocholate shows up lactose fermenters as pink
colonies, while nonlactose fermenters are colourless or pale yellow colour.
 This may also be termed indicator medium.

 Sugar media:
 The term ‘sugar’ in microbiology denotes any fermentable substances.
 They may be: monosaccharide, Disaccharides, Polysaccharides,
Trisaccharides, Alcohols, Glucosides and Noncarbohydrate substances.
 The usual sugar media consist of 1% of the sugar in peptone water along
with an appropriate indicator.
 A small tube (Durhams’tube) is kept inverted in the sugar tube to detect
gas production.

 Transport media:
 In the case of delicate organisms (like gonococci) which may not survive
the time taken for transporting the specimen to the laboratory or may be
overgrown by nonpathogens (such as dysentery or cholera organisms in
feces), special media are devised for transporting the specimens. These
termed transport media.
 For example, Stuart’s medium – a non- nutrient soft agar gel containing a
reducing agent to prevent oxidation, and charcoal to neutralise certain
bacterial inhibitors- for gonococci, and buffered glycerol saline for enteric
bacilli.

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 FUNGAL MEDIA

 Mycological media are used for the cultivation and maintenance of fungi, for the
demonstration of chromogenesis and for obtaining yeast and mold counts.
 Many different culture media have been developed for the growth of fungi.
 In comparison with media for the majority of bacterial strains, fungal media are of
simple composition, usually consisting of a peptone, dextrose and agar.
 Selectivity is achieved by lowering the pH, incorporating dyes or adding
antimicrobial agents.

Media Name Importance

MEA (Malt Extract Agar) General purpose media for isolation of fungi and
molds
PDA (Potato Dextrose Agar) General-purpose media used for the isolation of
fungi
and molds. PDA incubated at 35oC may allow for
excellent recovery of Stachybotrys chartarum
Cellulose Agar Multipurpose microbial media used to isolate
microbes able to utilize long complex
carbohydrates.
Most often recommended in IAQ investigations of
Stachybotrys sp. Contamination.
Czapek Yeast Agar Media for the isolation and culture of saprophytic
soil
Microorganisms.
SAB (Sabouraud Dextrose Gold standard for Cultivation of fungi on rich
Agar) media.
Works well for isolation of fungi
Corn Meal Agar General purpose media for the cultivation of fungi
from the environment, commonly used in IAQ
investigation of Stachybotrys chartarum
Contamination.
DG18 (Dichloran-Glycerol Media containing 18% glycerol, used for the
Agar 18) recovery
Of Neophilic yeast and molds. Recommended for
recovery in dry locations such as dry powder
storage
and manufacturing areas.
Emerson YPSS General purpose media for cultivation of fungi.
Particularly good for the cultivation of zoosporic
chytrids and other lower fungi
Rose Bengal Agar Media used for the selective enumeration of yeast
and
molds . Rose Bengal is present in the media to
restrict (not inhibit) the growth of Rhizopus and
Mucor
sp. that often overgrow culture plates.
Mycological Agar Used for the selection and isolation of pathogenic
fungi contaminated with saprophytic fungi and
bacteria. Contain chloramphenicol and

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cycloheximide.
 ALGAE MEDIA

 Algae are the photoautotrophic, eukaryotic soil microorganisms.

 There are different types of algae belonging to different classes found in wet soil.
 Beneck’s broth and Beneck’s agar are useful media to isolate soil algae.
 Incubation temperature and time of Beneck’s broth is 35 ̊C for 15 days.
 Incubation time and temperature of Beneck’s agar is 37 ̊C for a week.
Beneck’s broth

KNO3 0.2g
MgSO4 0.2g
K2HPO4 0.2g
CaCO3 0.1g
FeCl3 (1%) 2 drops
Distilled water 1 litre
pH 7.5

Benecks’s agar
 Compositions are same as beneck’s broth.
 20 g agar should be add when prepared beneck’s agar
 Chu’s medium No. 10 and Pringsheim’s broth are used for isolation of
Cynobacteria (blue-green algae).
 Incubation time and temperature of both media is 30 ̊ ± 1 ̊C for 2-3 weeks.

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“Phototrophic eukaryotic microorganism. The algae can utilise the energy in light and
do not have to depend upon the oxidation of matter to survive. Algae evolve oxygen
during their growth. Due to presence of photosynthetic pigment easy to identify algae
under the microscope Algae could be unicellular or multicellular. Blue green algae
are not true algae; they belong to a group of bacteria called cynobacteria.

 IDENTIFICATION AND MORPHOLOGY

 Algae have wide range of size and shape.

 Many species occur as single cells that may be spherical, rod-shaped, club-
shaped, or spindle-shaped.
 Multicellular cell are appear in every conceivable form, shape, and degree of
complexity, including membrane colonies, filaments grouped singly or in cluster
with individual strands that may be branched or unbranched.
 Cell wall is thin and rigid.
 Cell wall of diatoms are impregnated with silica, make them thick and very rigid.
 Motile algae have flexible cell membrane called periplasts.
 Cell walls of many algae are surrounded by a flexible, gelatinous outer matrix
secreted through the cell wall.
 Algae contain a discrete nucleus.
 Other inclusions are starch grains, oil droplets, and vacuoles.
 Chlorophyll and other pigments are found in membrane bound organelles known
as chloroplasts.

 ALGAL PIGMENTS
 The chloroplasts of algae containing similar pigments appear to have similar
thlyakoid arrangements.
 Chloroplast ultrastructure and pigments chemistry have been used as markers
for algal phylogeny.
 Three kinds of photosynthetic pigments: (1) Chlorophylls, (2) Carotenoids, (3)
biloproteins.
(1) Chlorophylls:
 These are lipid- soluble pigments.
 There are five chlorophylls: a, b, c, d, and e.
 Chlorophyll a is present in all photosynthetic organisms other than
oxygenic photosynthetic bacteria.
 Chlorophyll b is found in the Euglenophycophta and Chlorophycophyta.
 Chlorophyll c is more widespread and is present in members of
Xanthophycophyta, Bacillariophycophta, Chrysophycophta,
Pyrrophycophta, and Cryptophycophyta.
 Chlorophyll d present only in Rhodophycophyta.
 Chlorophyll e is rare and has been identified only two genera of
Xanthophycophyta, namely Triboneara and Vaucheria.

(2) Carotenoids:
 These are lipid- soluble pigments.
 Two type of Carotenoids: carotenes and xanthophylls.
 Carotenes are linear, unsaturated hydrocarbons, and xanthophylls are
oxygenated derivatives of these

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 The predominant carotenes and xanthophylls present in the various algal
divisions.

(3) Biloproteins (Phycobilins):

 These are water soluble pigments.
 These are pigment-protein complexes and are present in only two
algal divisions: Rhodophycophyta and Cryptophycophyta.
 Two type of Phycobilins: phycocyanin and phycoerythrin.
 The proportion of one kind of pigment to another can vary
considerably with changes in environmental conditions.

 REPRODUCTION
 Algae may reproduce either asexually or sexually.
 Asexual Reproduction:
 Asexual reproductive processes in algae include the purely vegetative
type of cell division.
 A fragment of an old multicellular type of algae may even start in new
algal colony or filament.
 The production of unicellular spores which are aquatic in forms, have
flagella and are motile, this spore called zoospores.
 The nonmotile spores, Aplanospores are formed by the terrestrial types of
algae.
 Some aplanospores can develop into zoospores.
 Sexual Reproduction:
 A fusion of (conjugation) of sex cell, called gametes, to form a union in
which ‘blending’ of nuclear material occurs before new generation are
formed.
 The union of gametes forms a zygote.
 If there is a no visible sex differentiation, the fusion process is
“isogamous”.
 If two gametes are unlike, different in size, the process is heterogamous.
 The ovum (female egg cell) is large and nonmotile, and the male gamete
(sperm cell) is small and actively motile. This type of sexual process is
termed in oogamy.
 Thalli may look alike; they are of opposite sex types, since one produce
male gametes and other ova. Such plants are called unisexual or
dioecious.
 Plants in which gametes from the same individual can unite are said to be
bisexual or monoecious.

 CLASSIFICATION:
 According to five Kingdome system of Whittaker, the algae belong to seven
division distributed between two different Kingdome.
 This classification is based on the cellular, not organismal, properties.
 Some important properties include:
(1) Cell wall (if present) chemistry and morphology.
(2) Forms in which food or assimilatory products photosynthesis are stored.
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(3) Chlorophyll molecules and accessory pigments the contribute to
photosynthesis
(4) Flagella number and the location of their insertion in motile cells.
(5) Morphology of the cells and and/ the body (thallus)
(6) Habitat
(7) Reproductive structure
(8) Life history patterns.
 Classical classification of algae:

Division (common name) Kingdom

Chrysophyta ( yellow- green and Protista (single cell or colonial;
golden- brown algae: diatoms) eukaryotic)
Euglenophyta (photosynthetic Protista
euglenoids flagellates)
Pyrrophyta (dinoflagellates) Protista
Charophyta (stone worts) Protista
Chlorophyta (green algae) Protista
Phaeophyta (brown algae) Plantae (multicellular;
eukaryotic)
Rhodophyta (red algae) Plantae

 Molecular system have placed some of the classical algae with plants (green
algae) ; some as a separate lineage (red algae); some with the stramenopiles
(golden-brown and yellow green algae, and diatoms);some with the alveolates
(dinoflagellates); and still other with some protozoa ( euglenoids).
 Two of these group the alveolates and stramenopiles, have created recently as a
result of rRNA comparisons and ultrastructure studies.
 The alveolates have mitochondria with tubular cristae and subsurface alveo or
sac that abut the surface.
 Dinoflagellates, ciliate protozoa and the apicomplexan protozoa are alveolates.
 The stramenopiles have mitochondria with tubular cristae and hollow hairs that
give rise to a small numbers of fine hairs.

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Cyanobacteria

Cyanelles
Rhodoplasts
Rhodophytes

Heterokonts

Cryptophytes

Haptophytes
Chloroplasts
Euglenophytes

Chlorophytes

Charophytes

Higher plants (Embryophyta)

Chlorarachniophytes

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 DIFFERENT ACTIVITIES OF FUNGI

 Most fungi are saprophytes and active producers of various hydrolytic enzymes.
 They are of great value as scavengers and promoters of soil fertility.
 Many fungi decompose cellulose and lignin and therefore ruin paper and wood
products not protected from them.
 Some filamentous fungi grow in and under paints and deterioration of paints.
 Marine fungi participate in destruction of ropes and timbers exposed at water
level.
 Some molds have done enormous damage by infecting and killing commercially
valuable fish and shellfish and animals and fish food such as eelgrass upon
which many edible marine forms live.

On the other hand,

 A number of species of fungi especially yeast and molds are of great commercial
value in production of various organic compounds, which are used as food,
flavours or drugs.
 An important example of drug is Penicillin.
 For carbohydrates, various species of fungi produces hundreds of valuable
substances that cannot be easily made by artificial processes.
 Among those products are Penicillin, Acetone, Butanol, and Sorbitol. Yeast is
the familiar servant of brewers and backers.

Fungi are similar to bacteria. To other term, which required consideration, is mold
yeast. Mold is synonymous in commonly usage with fungi. Yeast is a part of fungi.
But like bacteria their important has cost a separation from fungi.

 IDENTIFICATION:

 Unlike bacteria, fungi are not identified according to their biochemical reactions.
 But rather are identified by their physical characteristics.
 Since fungi have several phases of their life cycle the observation of all these
phases is not always an easy task.
 Only a moderate attempt at crude identification of most fungi is necessary.
 Every branch of science has its own language of communication and mycology
is no different.

 DEFINITION OF TERMS:

1. Spore: Reproductive stage of fungi.

2. Hypha: A single filament (Plural: HYPHAE)

3. Septate: A transverse wall across hyphae.

4. Non Septate: Transverse wall across the hypha absent.

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5. Mycelium: The mass of hyphae.

6. Vegetative mycelium: The mycelium, which is responsible for absorption of food.

7. Reproductive mycelium: The mycelium, which is responsible for spore formation.

8. Sporangiophore: The spore producing structure in Phycomycetes.

9. Sporangium: The Sac structure at the end of Sporangiophore.

10. Sporangiosphores: The spore within sporangium.

11. Conidiophore: The asexual spore – producing structure in the

Ascomycetes.
12. Conidium: The spore on the conidiophore.

13. Budding: The process of reproduction in yeast by swelling.

14. Blastospores: Spores formed by budding.

15. Chlamydospore: A spore formed by a resting cell by swelling and

increasing the cell – wall thickness.
16. Arthrospores: Spores formed by fragmentation of the hyphae.

17. Ascus: The Sac structure containing the sexual spores of the
Ascomycetes.
18. Ascospore: The sexual spore contained in the Ascus.

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 MICROSCOPIC EXAMINATION:

 Microscopic examination is the key to identification of the fungi.

 The fungi can be examined directly or suspended in liquid, dried and stained.
 The fungi are large, 50 to 10 micron wide, makes it easy to distinguish them
from the filamentous bacteria or actinomycetes.
 The fungi do not contain as much protein as bacteria and hence, stain lighter
with the normal bacteriological dues.
 True branching of the hyphae is another characteristic used to identify the fungi.

 CULTIVATION:

 One of the easiest ways to determine the presence of fungi is to grow them on
culture media.
 Fungi can easily be detected by their rapid growth and aerial reproductive
mycelium formation on Sabouraud glucose agar or on mycological agar at
temperature ranging from 20 to 30° C.
 Commercial media are available from Difco, Himedia or Baltimore Biological
Laboratory for general growth of fungi.
 The mycological media depend on the fact that fungi grow very easily on a high
carbohydrate medium at pH 4.5 or can grow in the presence of antibiotics at pH
7.0.
 By depressing the pH of the culture medium to 4.5 it is possible to prevent most
bacteria from growing, leaving only the fungi to grow.
 The use of antibiotics to control extraneous bacteria has allowed cultivation of
fungi at normal pH levels.

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 The isolation of fungi in pure culture requires the use of solid media in the same
manner as bacteria.
 Fungi grow so poorly on liquid medium that it is not used very often yet growth
on liquid medium offers a good chance to examine the vegetative portion of the
fungi which is normally below the agar surface.
 Most part of the mold are potential capable of growth.
 Inoculation of small fragment of mycelium on a medium is sufficient to start a
new mold colony.

 REPRODUCTION

 Reproduction in fungi can be sexual or asexual. Many, but not all, fungi
reproduce both sexually and asexually. Some reproduce only sexually, others
only asexually. All divisions, however, share similar patterns of reproduction and
morphology.
A) Asexual Reproduction :

 Fungi commonly reproduce asexually by mitotic production of haploid

vegetative cells called spores in sporangia, called sporangiospores,
and conidia on conidiophores.
 Aplanospores are non motile sporangiospores and Zoospores are motile
sporangiospores.
 Small, single celled conidia are called microconidia and large,
multicelled conidia are called macroconidia.
 Spores are microscopic and surrounded by a covering well suited for the
rigors of distribution into the environment.
 Oidia or arthrospores, Chlamydospores, and blastospores are
asexual spores.
 Budding, fission and fragmentation are other methods of asexual
reproduction.
 Fission of somatic cells yielding two similar daughter cells.
 Budding is mitosis with an uneven distribution of cytoplasm and is
common in yeasts.
 After budding, the cell with the lesser amount of cytoplasm eventually
detaches and matures into a new organism.
 Fragmentation is the breaking of an organism into one or more pieces,
each of which can develop into a new individual.

B) Sexual Reproduction:

 The sexual cycle of fungi includes the familiar events of vegetative

growth, genetic recombination, meiosis, and fertilization.
 However, the timing of these events is unique in fungi.
 Fungi reproduce sexually when hyphae of two genetically different
individuals of the same species encounter each other.
 Following are the four important features of the sexual cycle of fungi:

 Nuclei of a fungal mycelium are haploid during most of the life cycle.
 Gametes are produced by mitosis and differentiation of haploid cells
rather than directly from meiosis of diploid cells.
 Meiosis quickly follows formation of the zygote, the only diploid stage.

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 Haploid cells produced by meiosis are not gametes; rather they are
spores that grow into a mature haploid organism. In both cases,
haploid spores grow into mature mycelia.
 The union of the cytoplasm of two parent mycelia is known
as plasmogamy.
 The union of two haploid nuclei contributed by two parents is known
as karyogamy.
 Gametic copulation: Fusion of naked gametes, one or both of which
are motile
 Gamate-gamatangial copulation: Two gametangia come into
contact but do not fuse, the male nucleus migrate through a pore or
fertilization tube into the female gametangium.
 Gametangial copulation: Two gametangia or their protoplast fuse
and give rise to a zygote that develops into a resting spore.
 Somatic copulation: Fusion of somatic or vegetative cells.

 Ascospores, basidiospores, zygospores and oospores are sexual

spores.

 CHEMICAL COMPOSITION:

 Fungi produce definite chemical structures, which make up their protoplasm.

 The fungi contents 75 – 80 % water, as do bacteria.
 An analysis of Aspergillus niger showed 47.9 % Carbon, 6.7 % Hydrogen and
5.24 % Nitrogen.
 The organic fraction gives an approximately empirical formulation of
C10H17O6N.
 Comparing the formulation of fungi and bacteria shows immediate difference in
nitrogen content.

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 The fungi form normal protoplasm with one – half the nitrogen required by
bacteria.
 Thus fungi predominate over bacteria in nitrogen deficient environment.

 AEROBES:

 Fungi are aerobic organisms.

 When grown on a liquid medium, the fungi grow only at the liquid air interface
and do not diffuse through the initial medium, as do facultative bacteria.
 The aerobic nature of fungi is of extreme importance to the sanitary engineer
since it means the fungi will not be important in anaerobic digestion but rather
only in aerobic systems.
 There has been confusion as to the strict aerobic nature of fungi.
 This has stemmed from the fact that fungi produce end products typical of
anaerobic metabolism.
 If there is not sufficient oxygen to metabolise the organic matter completely to
carbon dioxide and water, a portion of the organic matter will be oxidised part
way.
 This phenomenon creates the impression of anaerobic metabolism but is still
aerobic.

 CLASSIFICATION:

 Classification of fungi is based on the characteristic of the sexual spores

and fruiting bodies present during the sexual stages of their life cycle.
 Taxonomy of the fungi follows the recommendations of the committee on
International Rules of Botanical Nomenclature.
 The various taxa have endings as follows:

Divisions: -mycota
Subdivisions: -mycotina
Classes: -mycetes
Subclasses: -mycetidae
Orders: -ales
Families: -aceae


mycelium, plural Mycelia, the mass of branched, tubular filaments (hyphae) of
fungi. The mycelium makes up the thallus, or undifferentiated body, of a typical
fungus. It may be microscopic in size or developed into visible structures, such as
brackets, mushrooms, puffballs, rhizomorphs (long strands of hyphae cemented
together), sclerotia (hard, compact masses), stinkhorns, toadstools, and truffles. At a
certain stage it produces spores, directly or through special fruiting bodies.
The mycelium is the vegetative portion of a fungus, meaning that it is the portion that
propagates throughasexual reproduction. Mycelium consists of a web of hyphae,
branching or forking thread-like structures. Depending upon the type of fungus, and

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how well developed it is, mycelia may be visible or microscopic. The mold that grows
on decaying food, for example, is visible mycelium.

In addition to asexual reproduction, the mycelium is responsible for

absorbing nutrients from the environment. It releases enzymes into the surrounding
environment to break down the food source into a digestible form, then absorbs the
food. This process also helps dead plant material and other organic material to
decompose.Mycelium can also help renew the soil through this process, for example
by decomposing contaminants such as pesticides. Some mycelia help plants absorb
water and nutrients more efficiently, and some are also important food sources
for invertebrates living in the soil.

Mycelia can also be extremely extensive. One notorious fungal colony in the forest of
eastern Oregon once covered 2,400 acres (9.7 km2). It grew to such a size over
about 2,200 years and killed the plant growth in the forest numerous times, each time
leading to deeper layers of soil that could withstand the growth of larger and larger
trees.

Mycelium is sometimes used in farming or landscaping. In addition to its ability to

replenish nutrients, themycelium of some types of fungus forms a symbiotic
relationship, called a mycorrhiza, with the roots of a plant. The plant and the fungus
in a mycorrhiza help each other receive nutrients that they could not obtain on their
own. Mycelia can also be used as an organic filter for soil or water in a process called
mycofiltration, in which a mycelial mat keeps out harmful chemicals and
microorganisms. Mycelia are also sometimes used to hold new soil in place on
unpaved roads

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