Mold Quiz

a) Penicillium/Aspergillus mold are the most common mold type in 38% of the investigated households.

c) Because they look like paintbrushes – The entire genus Penicillium got its name because their spore-bearing structures look like paintbrushes, which are called “penicilli” in Latin.

Penicillium sp. conidiophore (Photo source: AJC1, Wikimedia).

c) Number of cells. Molds are multicellular, filamentous organisms, while yeasts are aggregations of single-cell organisms which aggregate and act as an individual. Interestingly, some fungi can revert from a yeast form to a filamentous form, depending on certain ecological conditions.

Fungi under microscope;(left) Yeast (right) Mould (Photo source: Bob Blaylock, Wikimedia)

c). Penicillium fungi are the most frequent cause of the green mold spots on old bread. Mouldy bread is not safe to eat as some green mould species can produce mycotoxins.

(Photo source: Henry Mühlpfordt, Wikimedia)

a). Molds are multicellular, filamentous organisms that belong to the kingdom of Fungi.

a) 13%, and the most common types (in more than half cases) are from the Penicillium/Aspergillus group.

a). The blue veins are the result of Penicillium molds forming colonies in the presence of air. This cheese, even though technically spoiled, is considered safe and a delicacy.

b) Ants. For more than 50 million years, leaf-cutter ants have been cultivating certain fungi which form mushroom-like structures to feed their larvae. This food source is constantly being attacked by molds. In order to protect their crops, these ants have learned to additionally cultivate certain types of microorganisms, which have antibiotic properties against the pathogenic mold.

Atta columbica queen with workers on fungal substrate (Photo source: Christian R. Linder, Wikimedia)

b) Lobsters, because the shell of arthropods (crustations, insects, spiders, and such animals) and the cell walls of fungi (molds) are made of chitin, a structural polysaccharide (sugar) molecule.

The cell wall structure of Fungi (Photo source: Maya and Rike, Wikimedia)

a) 30-50%. Studies show that consistent associations of dampness with adverse health effects, strongly suggesting a causation by dampness-related exposures.