Mold Quiz

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

c) 600 000. Furthermore, according to the UNICEF statistics, of all pneumonia-related mortalities of children under the age of five, half can be traced to air pollution.

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)

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). Humans because the latest molecular studies have placed the kingdom of Fungi (where molds belong) and the kingdom of Animalia (where humans belong) into a superkingdom named Opisthokonta

The Tree of Life of the planet's organisms. (Photo source: Micallen0713, 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)

d) All of the above. Furthermore, prolonged exposure to mold can manifest in symptoms ranging from rashes, allergies and flu-like symptoms to neurological damage and even death.

c). Moisture is the crucial ingredient for mold to thrive. Generally, the most common reasons for indoor mold spread are plumbing and roof leaks, wet basements, bad yard drainage, and high humidity.

b). Molds are multicellular, filamentous fungi, while slime molds belong to a more primitive group of organisms called the Protista, which form unicellular or colonial forms such as amoebas and primitive algae.

(left) slime mold (right) mold (Photo source: D. Sadikovic, Mold Busters)

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