mycology Fall 2000

FungalFAX:

A species of Pythium made headlines on sports pages across the United States because it ruined the greens at the U.S. National Golf Tournament 6 August 1987. They had been watered with untreated lake water.
The presence of wheat rust in the southern United States caused 18th Century colonists to rely on bread made from corn, a food that is to this day traditional in the region.
Gingerbread was invented by a baker who used molassas and ginger to disguise the dark color and fishy odor of wheat infected by stinking smut.
The British coffee house tradition was hastened because of the high cost of coffee due to the coffee rust fungus that struck the coffee-growing regions of southeastern Asia.
Frog deaths and extinctions are due to a chytrid, a microscopic aquatic fungus.
Fungal friuiting bodies such as mushrooms are the home for many insects that only recently have been discovered to have minute fungi called yeasts in their gut.

Introductory Mycology (BIOL/PLHL 4054) - FALL 2006

Lecture: Monday 9:40-10:30, 1:40-2:30, Wednesday 9:40-10:30
Laboratory: Monday 2:40-5:30
LSB 308
Meredith Blackwell
Department of Biological Sciences
LSB 386
mblackwell@lsu.edu

OFFICE HOURS: almost anytime, but make an appointment if possible
578-8551

GRADUATE ASSISTANT
Tim Paine
LSB Annex A357
cpaine3@lsu.edu

Text: Alexopoulos, C. J., C. W. Mims, and M. Blackwell. 1996. Introductory Mycology. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 869p.

Fungi modify our environment by performing important functions, especially those associated with their ability to metabolize a wide variety of carbohydrates and in providing nutrients to the organisms with which they interact. During the course you will 1) learn of the activities of fungi and their importance in making life on Earth possible, 2) collect and identify fungi from their natural habitats , and 3) observe fungi under the microscope in the laboratory.

From left to right : Fig. 1. Individual of Chytridium (Chytridiomycota) growing on a single pine pollen grain. Successive photos show zoospore release from the sporangium, and the arrow points to a flagellum. Copyright © H. Whisler, M. Fuller 1996. Fig. 2. Black sporangium atop swollen sporangiophore of Pilobolus (Zygomycota). Shortly, the swollen subsporangial vesicle will burst to send the sporangium flying. Herbivores eat the sporangium, and the enclosed mitospores germinate in the dung. The bright yellow carotenoid pigment enables the sporangium to orient to light (phototropism). If you look closely, you can see masses of nematodes on the vesicle; probably herbivore pathogens hoping to hitch a ride. Copyright © M. Blackwell 1996. Fig. 3. Massed fruiting bodies of Laetiporus sulphureus,the chicken-of-the-woods (Basidiomycota). The tiny tubular filaments (hyphae) that make the body of this fungus (mycelium) are growing in the old, dead wood of a large cherry tree. Laetiporusis not a parasite, but the decay may weaken the tree so much that wind or ice storms can topple it. Copyright © M. Blackwell 1996. Fig. 4. Fruiting body of Scarcoscypha coccinea, the scarlet cup fungus (Ascomycota). Hundreds of millions of meiospores (ascospores) are discharged from this cup, usually in puffs that produce visible clouds of spores. Copyright © J. Spatafora 1996. From Fungi in the Tree of Life by Meredith Blackwell, Rytas Vilgalys, and John W. Taylor.

Syllabus for Introductory Mycology (BIOL/PLHL 4054) -Fall 2006
Lecture: Monday 9:40-10:30, 1:40-2:30, Wednesday 9:40-10:30
Laboratory: Monday 2:40-5:30
LSB 308

	Lecture Topic (text readings)	Laboratory Topic
28 Aug	Introduction: Overview of Fungi , really current fungal classification, and fungus-like organisms (Chapters 1-3) (see Table 1), Internet resources	Fungus-like organisms: Slime molds (streaming plasmodia and gleaming sporangia); moist chambers and baits for fungi
30 Aug	Slime molds I: Myxomycetes and more Myxomycetes, the plasmiodial slime molds (Chapter 29)
04 Sep	Labor Day
06 Sep	Slime molds II: Cellular slime molds, other slime molds, interactions (Table 2) (Chapters 26-28)
11 Sep	Diploid zoosporic "fungi" I: Oomycetes: Gametic meiosis (Table 1) (Chapter 23)	Fungus-like organisms: Water molds and plant pathogens
13 Sep	Diploid zoosporic "fungi" II: Oomycetes in the environment, Oomycetes as plant pathogens
18 Sep	Haploid zoosporic fungi and dead frogs: Chytridiomycota and Blastocladiomycota (Chapter 4)	Chytrids; Allomyces; zygote-forming fungi and their beautiful sporangia; moist chambers
20 Sep	Zygomycota I: Mucorales and other groups (Chapter 5)
25 Sep	Zygomycetes I: Mucorales and other groups (continued)	Zygomycetes
27 Sep	Zygomycota II: Trichomycetes and arthropod associates
02 Oct	Exam 1 (through Zygomycetes)	Moist chamber and culture work
04 Oct	Fall holiday
09 Oct	Glomeromycota (arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi) (Chapter 6)	AM fungi
11 Oct	Ascomycetes I: Introduction to Ascomycetes (Chapter 7); asexual reproduction, [anamorph and teleomorph database] (Chapter 8)	Ascomycetes from dung
16 Oct	Ascomycetes II: Early branches and derived yeasts (Chapters 9, 10)
18 Oct	Ascomycetes III Filamentous ascomycetes, Eurotiales (Chapter 11)
23 Oct	Ascomycetes IV: Pyrenomycetes (Chapter 12 ) (Clavicipitales and others)	Life cycles and interactions
25 Oct	Ascomycetes V: Pyrenomycetes (Xylariales and others)
30 Oct	Ascomycetes VI: Plant pathogens (Chapter 13)	Conidia from the air, sclerotia as propagules
06 Nov	Ascomycetes VII: Discomycetes (Chapter 13)
08 Nov	Ascomycetes VIII: Loculoascomycetes (Chapter 14); other groups (Chapter 15)	Ascomycetes from wood
13 Nov	Exam 2 (through Ascomycetes)	Purification and identification of cultures
15 Nov	Basidiomycetes I: Introduction to the Basidiomycetes, Sexual and somatic compatibility (Chapter 16)
20 Nov	Basidiomycetes II: Euagarics and more; mycorrhizae (Chapter 17)	Basidiomycete life cycle: isolation of spores and mating type determination
22 Nov	Thanksgiving holiday
27 Nov	Basidiomycetes III: Polypores and corticioid fungi plus (Chapter 19)	COLLECTIONS DUE
29 Nov	Basidiomycetes IV: Rusts (Uredinales) and related forms plus (Chapters 20, 22)
04 Dec	Basidiomycetes V: Smuts (Ustilaginales) (Chapter 21)	Basidiomycetes: below ground and above, life cycle slides and witches' brooms
06 Dec	Fungi in perspective; review
12 Dec	Exam 3 and Cumulative Final Exam (Tuesday, 12:30-2:30)

Mycology - GENERAL INFORMATION

Grades will be determined on the basis of:

Exam 1 100 points

Exam 2 100 points

Final Exam 100 points

Laboratory 100 points (see below)

Total 400 points

The final letter grade for the course will be based on the following scale:

90-100% = A

80-89 = B

70-79 = C

60-69 = D

Below 60% = F

Your letter grade will not be lower than stated in this scale, but you may do better IF grades are curved
Lecture exams are scheduled as follows:

Exam 1 02 October

Exam 2 13 November

Exam 3 and Final 12 December

Lecture exams will includes questions from the laboratories covering the material

The laboratory grade will be based on the following:
Collections: 100 pts; no more than one specimen from each genus; due date 27 November (firm)

Field collection (number of specimens identified to genus):
Ascomycetes (4)
Basidiomycetes (4)
Myxomycetes (2) can be moist chamber developments from collected substrates

Culture collection (number of cultures identified to genus):
Sexual or asexual ascomycete(7)
Zygomycetes (2)
Basidiomycetes (1)

You will need to use the Internet and check your official LSU mail address for messages. Computers with Internet Access are located in the lobby of the Life Sciences Building and in Middleton Library.
Last Modified: 04 August 2006
Maintained by Meredith Blackwell
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