Possible ID: Fusarium
Classification:
Phylum Ascyomycota
Class Sordariomycetes
Order Hypocrales
Family Fusarium
Isolation and culturing methods:
Isolated from an agar plate that was placed near the creek by 7th St Café at Bucknell University (Lewisburg, PA). This plate was used when we were collecting spores from the outside environment for a lab. Plates were incubated at 20 degrees Celsius for a week or more. Then, a small volume of hyphae was excised for the agar and transferred to achieve a pure culture.
Culture appearance and growth
The pure culture has an orange/yellow appearance. It is bum, forming some taller white pumps. Additionally, it is tightly spaced and produce excess bubbles that are liquid on the top. Hyphae are 5-8 micrometers wide and are regularly septate with no clam connection.
Spore production
Chlamydospores are curricular spores that are 17-25 micrometers in diameter. They are orange in pigment and have an outer membrane. They do not seem embedded in the hyphae. No production of conidia was observed.
Figure 1. Left is the pure culture of Fusarium. Right is the microscopic picture of a Fusarium’s chlamydospore
Collector: Manya Group: RM2S