Unknowns Project 5

28 October 2012

On this day, I basically checked all of the cultures I had so far and looked at them under the microscope. The first culture I looked at came from some dark green colonies on the pig isolations (Fig. 1). These were not the same colonies as shown in the previous blog posts. Under microscopic examination, and with the help of Barnett and Hunter (2010), I believe this is some type of Zygomycete, most likely Mucor or Rhizopus (Figs. 2, 3). Boo!

Fig. 1
One of the dark green colonies from a pig isolation.

Fig. 2
Microscopic examination of the conidiophore of a dark green fungus

Fig. 3
Conidia of dark green fungus, most likely a Zygomycete

Next, I observed my plate taken from the shower (Fig. 4). I also observed this fungus under the microscope, but was unable to make an ID (Figs. 5-7). This particular fungus exhibited clusters of pill-shaped spores that exhibited at most 4 divisions.

Fig. 4
Plate taken from shower

Fig. 5
Conidiophores of shower fungus

Fig. 6
Condiophores and spores of shower fungus

Fig. 7
Conidiophores and spores of shower fungus

 The next culture I observed was the light green fungus isolated from the pig plates (Fig. 8). The fungus grew very well on the 1/2 strength PDA. At first glance, I thought this was another Zygomycete (Fig. 9) , but then I noticed that there were septa in the hyphae (Fig. 10). When viewing the entire plate under the compound microscope (Fig. 11), the shape of the structure become more clear (Fig. 12). By utilizing a tape mount, I was also able to see the structures better (Fig. 13). From these observations, I believe that this is an Aspergillus species (which I also cannot use).

Fig. 8
Light green fungus isolated from pigs

Fig. 9
Conidiophore at 40x magnification

Fig. 10
Hypha showing septa 

Fig. 11
Observation of entire plate under the compound microscope

Fig. 12
Observation of entire plate under the compound microscope

Fig. 13
Utilization of a tape mount in order to better observe structures

 After observing all of the fungi that I had cultured, I next attempted to inoculate some 1/2 strength PDA with fungi from a dead cricket (Fig. 14) and an abandoned wasp nest (Fig. 15). The fungus from the cricket was transferred to the PDA plate via sterile technique with an inoculation loop. The wasp nest fungus, on the other hand, was gently touched to a plate (just to see if anything would grow). Before these two samples were brought into the lab, the were kept in separate, sealed brown paper bags (just FYI).

Fig. 14
Moldy cricket found in a ditch

Fig. 15
Abandoned wasp nest

 Conclusion
Looks like I need to spend an ample amount of time trying to figure out all of my samples!

All for now,

C