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Penicillium Commune
''Penicillium commune'' is an indoor fungus belonging to the genus '' Penicillium''. It is known as one of the most common fungi spoilage moulds on cheese. It also grows on and spoils other foods such as meat products and fat-containing products like nuts and margarine. Cyclopiazonic acid and regulovasine A and B are the most important mycotoxins produced by ''P. commune''. The fungus is the only known species to be able to produce both penitrem A and roquefortine. Although this species does not produce penicillin, it has shown to have anti-pathogenic activity. There are no known plant, animal or human diseases caused by ''P. commune''. History and taxonomy The fungus species was first described by the American mycologist Dr. Charles Thom in 1910. ''Penicillium commune'' is considered an ancestral wild-type of the fungus species '' P. camemberti'', a mould commonly used in the production of soft cheese. Both species are similar in their ability to produce cyclopiazonic acid, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Thom
Charles Thom (November 11, 1872 – May 24, 1956) was an American microbiologist and mycologist. Born and raised in Illinois, he received his PhD from the University of Missouri, the first such degree awarded by that institution. He was best known for his work on the microbiology of dairy products and soil fungi, and in particular his research into the genera '' Aspergillus'' and ''Penicillium''. His work influenced the establishment of standards for food handling and processing in the USA. He pioneered the use of culture media to grow microorganisms, and, with food chemist James N. Currie, developed a process to mass-produce citric acid using ''Aspergillus''. Thom played an important role in the development of penicillin in World War II. Early life Thom was born in Minonk, Illinois in 1872, the fifth of six boys. His parents were Angus Sutherland Thom and Louisa (Herick) Thom, Scottish/Irish farmers who had settled in Illinois shortly before the American Civil War. Charles ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penicillium Echinosporum
''Penicillium megasporum'' is an anamorph species of the genus of '' Penicillium'' which produces megasporizine, phyllostine, asperphenamate and physcion Parietin is the predominant cortical pigment of lichens in the genus ''Caloplaca'', a secondary product of the lichen ''Xanthoria parietina'', and a pigment found in the roots of Curled Dock (''Rumex crispus''). It has an orangy-yellow color and .... References Further reading * * * * * * * megasporum Fungi described in 1955 Fungus species {{fungus-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penicillium Roqueforti
''Penicillium roqueforti'' is a common saprotrophic fungus in the genus ''Penicillium''. Widespread in nature, it can be isolated from soil, decaying organic matter, and plants. The major industrial use of this fungus is the production of blue cheeses, flavouring agents, antifungals, polysaccharides, proteases, and other enzymes. The fungus has been a constituent of Roquefort, Stilton, Danish blue, Cabrales, Gorgonzola, and other blue cheeses. Other blue cheeses are made with ''Penicillium glaucum''. Classification First described by American mycologist Charles Thom in 1906, ''P. roqueforti'' was initially a heterogeneous species of blue-green, sporulating fungi. They were grouped into different species based on phenotypic differences, but later combined into one species by Kenneth B. Raper and Thom (1949). The ''P. roqueforti'' group got a reclassification in 1996 due to molecular analysis of ribosomal DNA sequences. Formerly divided into two varieties―cheese-maki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neurotoxins
Neurotoxins are toxins that are destructive to nerve tissue (causing neurotoxicity). Neurotoxins are an extensive class of exogenous chemical neurological insultsSpencer 2000 that can adversely affect function in both developing and mature nervous tissue.Olney 2002 The term can also be used to classify endogenous compounds, which, when abnormally contacted, can prove neurologically toxic. Though neurotoxins are often neurologically destructive, their ability to specifically target neural components is important in the study of nervous systems. Common examples of neurotoxins include lead, ethanol (drinking alcohol), glutamate,Choi 1987 nitric oxide, botulinum toxin (e.g. Botox), tetanus toxin,Simpson 1986 and tetrodotoxin. Some substances such as nitric oxide and glutamate are in fact essential for proper function of the body and only exert neurotoxic effects at excessive concentrations. Neurotoxins inhibit neuron control over ion concentrations across the cell membrane, or commu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Secondary Metabolites
Secondary metabolites, also called specialised metabolites, toxins, secondary products, or natural products, are organic compounds produced by any lifeform, e.g. bacteria, fungi, animals, or plants, which are not directly involved in the normal growth, development, or reproduction of the organism. Instead, they generally mediate ecological interactions, which may produce a selective advantage for the organism by increasing its survivability or fecundity. Specific secondary metabolites are often restricted to a narrow set of species within a phylogenetic group. Secondary metabolites often play an important role in plant defense against herbivory and other interspecies defenses. Humans use secondary metabolites as medicines, flavourings, pigments, and recreational drugs. The term secondary metabolite was first coined by Albrecht Kossel, a 1910 Nobel Prize laureate for medicine and physiology in 1910. 30 years later a Polish botanist Friedrich Czapek described secondary m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Water Activity
Water activity (''aw'') is the partial pressure, partial vapor pressure of water in a solution divided by the standard state partial vapor pressure of water. In the field of food science, the standard state is most often defined as pure water at the same temperature. Using this particular definition, pure distilled water has a water activity of exactly one. Water activity is the thermodynamic activity of water as solvent and the relative humidity of the surrounding air after equilibration. As temperature increases, ''aw'' typically increases, except in some products with crystalline salt or sugar. Water migrates from areas of high ''aw'' to areas of low ''aw''. For example, if honey (''aw'' ≈ 0.6) is exposed to humid air (''aw'' ≈ 0.7), the honey hygroscopy, absorbs water from the air. If salami (''aw'' ≈ 0.87) is exposed to dry air (''aw'' ≈ 0.5), the salami desiccation, dries out, which could drying (food), preserve it or staling, spoil it. Lower ''aw'' substances tend ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exudate
An exudate is a fluid emitted by an organism through pores or a wound, a process known as exuding or exudation. ''Exudate'' is derived from ''exude'' 'to ooze' from Latin ''exsūdāre'' 'to (ooze out) sweat' (''ex-'' 'out' and ''sūdāre'' 'to sweat'). Medicine An exudate is any fluid that filters from the circulatory system into lesions or areas of inflammation. It can be a pus-like or clear fluid. When an injury occurs, leaving skin exposed, it leaks out of the blood vessels and into nearby tissues. The fluid is composed of serum, fibrin, and leukocytes. Exudate may ooze from cuts or from areas of infection or inflammation. Types * Purulent or suppurative exudate consists of plasma with both active and dead neutrophils, fibrinogen, and necrotic parenchymal cells. This kind of exudate is consistent with more severe infections, and is commonly referred to as pus. * Fibrinous exudate is composed mainly of fibrinogen and fibrin. It is characteristic of rheumatic carditi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Czapek Medium
Czapek medium, also called Czapek's agar (CZA) or Czapek-Dox medium, is a growth medium for propagating fungi and other organisms in a laboratory. It was named after its inventors, Czech botanist Friedrich Johann Franz Czapek (May 16, 1868 – July 31, 1921) and American chemist Arthur Wayland Dox (September 19, 1882 – 1954). It was developed to grow '' Aspergillus niger'' and '' Penicillium camemberti''. It works well for many saprophytic fungi and soil bacteria such as species of '' Aspergillus'', '' Candida'', '' Penicillium'', and '' Paecilomyces''. Friedrich Czapek's original recipe is as follows: *1000 g distilled water *30 g cane sugar – energy source and sole source of carbon *1 g dipotassium phosphate – buffering agent *0.5 g magnesium sulfate – source of cations *0.5 g potassium chloride – source of essential ions *0.01 g iron sulfate – source of cations Arthur Wayland Dox added 2 g of sodium nitrate in his v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agar Plate
An agar plate is a Petri dish that contains a growth medium solidified with agar, used to culture microorganisms. Sometimes selective compounds are added to influence growth, such as antibiotics. Individual microorganisms placed on the plate will grow into individual colonies, each a clone genetically identical to the individual ancestor organism (except for the low, unavoidable rate of mutation). Thus, the plate can be used either to estimate the concentration of organisms in a liquid culture or a suitable dilution of that culture using a colony counter, or to generate genetically pure cultures from a mixed culture of genetically different organisms. Several methods are available to plate out cells. One technique is known as " streaking". In this technique, a drop of the culture on the end of a thin, sterile loop of wire, sometimes known as an inoculator, is streaked across the surface of the agar leaving organisms behind, a higher number at the beginning of the streak and a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fascicle (botany)
In botany, a fascicle is a bundle of leaves or flowers growing crowded together; alternatively the term might refer to the vascular tissues that supply such an organ with nutrients.Shashtri, Varun. Dictionary of Botany. Publisher: Isha Books 2005. However, vascular tissues may occur in fascicles even when the organs they supply are not fascicled. Etymology of fascicle and related terms The term ''fascicle'' and its derived terms such as ''fasciculation'' are from the Latin ''fasciculus'', the diminutive of ''fascis'', a bundle. Accordingly, such words occur in many forms and contexts wherever they are convenient for descriptive purposes. A fascicle may be leaves or flowers on a short shoot where the nodes of a shoot are crowded without clear internodes, such as in species of ''Pinus'' or ''Rhigozum''. However, bundled fibres, nerves or bristles as in tissues or the glochid fascicles of ''Opuntia'' may have little or nothing to do with branch morphology. In pines Leaf fascic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stipes
Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthaginians and Romans, among others. Crucifixion has been used in parts of the world as recently as the twentieth century. The crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth is central to Christianity, and the cross (sometimes depicting Jesus nailed to it) is the main religious symbol for many Christian churches. Terminology Ancient Greek has two verbs for crucify: (), from (which in today's Greek only means "cross" but which in antiquity was used of any kind of wooden pole, pointed or blunt, bare or with attachments) and () "crucify on a plank", together with ( "impale"). In earlier pre-Roman Greek texts usually means "impale". The Greek used in the Christian New Testament uses four verbs, three of them based upon (), usually translated "cross". T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conidiophores
A conidium ( ; ), sometimes termed an asexual chlamydospore or chlamydoconidium (), is an asexual, non-motile spore of a fungus. The word ''conidium'' comes from the Ancient Greek word for dust, ('). They are also called mitospores due to the way they are generated through the cellular process of mitosis. The two new haploid cells are genetically identical to the haploid parent, and can develop into new organisms if conditions are favorable, and serve in biological dispersal. Asexual reproduction in ascomycetes (the phylum Ascomycota) is by the formation of conidia, which are borne on specialized stalks called conidiophores. The morphology of these specialized conidiophores is often distinctive between species and, before the development of molecular techniques at the end of the 20th century, was widely used for identification of (''e.g.'' ''Metarhizium'') species. The terms microconidia and macroconidia are sometimes used. Conidiogenesis There are two main types of conidiu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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