Microbes and Plant Diseases

Members of the Ascomycota such as Stachybotrys chartarum are responsible for fading of woollen textiles, which is a common problem especially in the tropics.

Ergot (Claviceps purpurea) is a direct menace to humans when it attacks wheat or rye and produces highly poisonous and carcinogenic alkaloids, causing ergotism if consumed. Symptoms include hallucinations, stomach cramp, and a burning sensation in the limbs (Saint Anthony's Fire).

The Saccharomycotina comprise most of the true yeasts, such as baker's yeast and Candida, which are single-celled (unicellular) fungi, which reproduce vegetatively by budding. Most of these species were previously classified in a taxon called Hemiascomycetes.

Calocera cornea is a jelly fungus that grows on decaying wood. It is a member of the Dacrymycetales, an order of fungi characterized by their unique tuning fork basidia.

This fungi is usually isolated as a saprophytic contaminant. World-wide, known as an insect parasite. Sympodial development of single-celled conidia on a narrow geniculate or zig-zag rachis emanating from a flask-shaped conidiophore.

Patients with primary immunodeficiencies are susceptible to Aspergillus species infections particularly when cell-mediated immunity is compromised.

Araneosa is a fungal genus in the family Agaricaceae. This is a monotypic genus, containing the single gasteroid species Araneosa columellata.

Fly agaric is a mushroom and psychoactive basidiomycete fungus.The quintessential toadstool, it is a large white-gilled, white-spotted, usually red mushroom, one of the most recognisable and widely encountered in popular culture.

Phytophthora spp. are mostly pathogens of dicotyledons, and are relatively host-specific parasites. Many species of Phytophthora are plant pathogens of considerable economic importance. Phytophthora infestans was the infective agent of the potato blight that caused the Great Irish Famine

The majority of species within the Auriculariales produce gelatinous basidiocarps (fruit bodies) on dead wood. In some these are conspicuous and may be ear-shaped, button-shaped, lobed, or effused. Their hymenophores (spore-bearing surfaces) may be smooth, warted, veined, toothed (as in the genus Pseudohydnum), or poroid (as in the genera Elmerina and Protomerulius).

Deuteromycota, or imperfect fungi, is an artificial group comprising fungi for which no sexual reproductive cyclehas been observed. Penicillium, from which penicillin is obtained, is a deuteromycete.

The Pucciniomycetes (formerly known as the Urediniomycetes) are a class of fungi in the Pucciniomycotina subdivision of the Basidiomycota. The class contains 5 orders, 21 families, 190 genera, and 8016 species. It includes several important plant pathogens causing forms of fungal rust.

VAM is an endomycorrhizal fungus.

Histoplasma capsulatum fungus causes histoplasmosis. It is also known as Cave disease, Darling's disease or Ohio valley disease. The disease affects primarily the lungs and is common among AIDS patients due to their suppressed immunity.

Aspergillus parasiticus secretes aflatoxins. It is frequently found in tree nuts, peanuts, maize, sorghum and other oilseeds, including corn and cottonseeds.