biology

Mucor circinelloides

Mucor circinelloides is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mucor circinelloides rather than just read about it. In short: Mucor circinelloides is a dimorphic fungus belonging to the Order Mucorales (Phylum Mucoromycota). It has a worldwide distribution, found mostly in soil, dung and root vegetables.

Key takeaways

Mucor circinelloides belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mucor circinelloides to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mucor circinelloides from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mucor circinelloides is a dimorphic fungus belonging to the Order Mucorales (Phylum Mucoromycota). It has a worldwide distribution, found mostly in soil, dung and root vegetables. This species is described as not known to be able to produce mycotoxins, however it has been frequently reported to infect animals such as cattle and swine, as well as fowl, platypus and occasionally humans. Ketoacidotic patients are particularly at risk for infection by M. circinelloides.

History and taxonomy Mucor circinelloides is one of the common species in the genus Mucor. Mucor circinelloides is a variable species that include several variants such as; M. circinelloides f. circinelloides; M. circinelloides f. lusitanicus; M. circinelloides f. griseocyanus and M. circinelloides f. janssenii.

Growth and morphology Mucor circinelloides reproduce both asexually and sexually. The asexual sporangiophores are found as two types: elongate and sympodially branched. The elongate sporangiophores have larger sporangia, which are white at first and progressively turn greenish brown in colour. They assume a globose shape and are 40–80 μm in size; characterized as "bobbing heads". Sporangiophores are mostly sympodially branched with small sporangia (25 μm); branches are and sometimes circinate. The diameter of the sporangia range from 20 to 80 μm. Sporangia have slightly encrusted walls. In larger sporangia, the membranes are deliquescent, whereas they are persistent in the smaller ones and rupture at maturity. Smaller sporangia also have smooth persistent walls. Sporangiophores are ellipsoid (6–7 μm in diameter) or subglobose (4–6 μm in diameter). Numerous chlamydospores are also produced. Colonies are fast growing and go up to 2 cm in height. On Czapek Yeast Autolysate (CYA) plates, the colony growth is low and sparse, most often spreading across the entire Petri dish. These colonies of 60 mm diameter or more appear to be pale grey or yellow in colour, with the reverse being uncoloured. Colonies also fill up the entire Petri dish of malt extract agar, producing colony colours similar to those observed on CYA. Mucor circinelloides can assume a yeast-like growth form. It has been isolated in this yeast form from human urine and normal stool specimen. It has also been recovered as a yeast from frogs.

Physiology Mucor circinelloides has good growth and sporulation between 5–10 °C and very poor growth at 37 °C which is also the maximum growth temperature. The minimal water activity (aw) for growth is 0.9. M. circinelloides assimilates ethanol and nitrate. The length and number of tall sporangiophores decrease with lower temperatures. Spores are broadly ellipsoid (4.4-6.8 x 3.7-4.7 μm). Growth, sporulation, and presence of tall and short sporangiophores can be influenced by temperature; however sporangiophore shape, size and uniformity are not influenced by temperatures.

Habitat and ecology At least 20 species belonging to the genus Mucor are found to be extracted from food. M. circinelloides is one of the five most significant fungus out of these 20 along with M. hiemalis, M. piriformis, M. plumbeus and M. racemosus. It has been reported to spoil cheese and yams as well as diseases of mango. This fungus has also been isolated from various foods such as meat, hazelnuts, walnuts, maize, mung beans, soybeans and barley. Fungi in the order Mucorales class have not been investigated in detail for their ability to produce mycotoxins; Cytotoxicity and mycotoxin-production was analysed and tested for using the cytotoxicity test (MTT assay) and LC/MS/MS-based multimycotoxin method respectively for three fungal species, including M. circinelloides. Mucor circinelloides was found to be able to produce 3-nitropropionic acid as well as have low cytotoxicity. Conventionally, M. circinelloides is considered not to produce mycotoxins.

Pathogenicity Mucor circinelloides is considered an emerging pathogen, although it has only been associated rarely with very human disease and have been limited to cutaneous infection. This species is occasionally isolated from humans, birds, cattle, and swine.

Antioxidant potential Mucor circinelloides is potentially a rich source of antioxidants and other secondary metabolites which could be used in the development of nutraceuticals and natural antioxidants.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mucor circinelloides

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mucor circinelloides claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mucor circinelloides before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mucor circinelloides ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mucor circinelloides

In research: Mucor circinelloides appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mucor circinelloides in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mucor circinelloides is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Fungal plant pathogens and diseases, Fungi described in 1875, Fungus species, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mucor circinelloides outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mucor circinelloides in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mucor circinelloides means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mucor circinelloides out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mucor circinelloides in simple terms?

Mucor circinelloides is a dimorphic fungus belonging to the Order Mucorales (Phylum Mucoromycota). It has a worldwide distribution, found mostly in soil, dung and root vegetables.

Why does Mucor circinelloides matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mucor circinelloides?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mucor circinelloides.