Unknowns Project 6

31 October 2012

On this day, I observed many of my cultures and tried to identify some using Barnett and Hunter (2010). First I observed my culture from the wasp nest, which had several different colonies growing (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1
Wasp nest plate

 Next, I observed the plate taken from my moldy crickets (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2
Colonies isolated from moldy cricket

I then observed my plates isolated from the shower mold (Figs. 3-5). Fig 3 is the original plate, while Figs. 4 and 5 were isolated on water agar from the first plate. One plate was inoculated via standard sterile technique with a probe (Fig. 4), while the other was inoculated by sterilely cutting a chunk of agar from the original plate and placing it in the middle of the new water agar plate (Fig. 5). Both plates exhibit very sparse growth. 

Fig. 3
Original shower mold plate

Fig. 4
Fungi isolated from original shower mold plate using standard inoculation technique

Fig. 5
Very sparse fungal growth on plate isolated from original
shower mold plate via transfer of agar block

 Lastly, I observed the cricket mold under the compound scope. I did not have time to look at the other cultures under the scope. There were a few different types of fungi on this plate, from what I could tell. From a tape mount, I could clearly see that there was a mass of hyphae (Fig. 6). Looking more closely at some of the conidiophores, I could tell that the conidia had an unusual shape that was bulbous at the base and more narrow at the tip (Fig. 7). The other structures I saw looked like they were Aspergillus sp. (Figs. 8, 9).

Fig. 6
Mass of hyphae at 10x magnification (tape mount).

Fig. 7
One lone conidiophore

Fig. 8
Possibly Aspergillus sp.

Fig. 9
Possibly Aspergillus sp. 

Conclusions

Looks like I am still getting a lot of very common fungi. Maybe some of my other cultures will prove to be interesting.

All for now,

C