science

Purpureocillium

Purpureocillium is a science 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 Purpureocillium rather than just read about it. In short: Purpureocillium is a fungal genus in the Ophiocordycipitaceae family. The genus now contains at least 5 species with the type species Purpureocillium lilacinum, a common soil mold.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Purpureocillium is a fungal genus in the Ophiocordycipitaceae family. The genus now contains at least 5 species with the type species Purpureocillium lilacinum, a common soil mold. It has been isolated from a wide range of habitats, including cultivated and uncultivated soils, forests, grassland, deserts, estuarine sediments and sewage sludge, and insects. It has also been found in nematode eggs, and occasionally from females of root-knot and cyst nematodes. In addition, it has frequently been detected in the rhizosphere of many crops. The species can grow at a wide range of temperatures – from 8 to 38 °C (46 to 100 °F) for a few isolates, with optimal growth in the range 26 to 30 °C (79 to 86 °F). It also has a wide pH tolerance and can grow on a variety of substrates. P. lilacinum has shown promising results for use as a biocontrol agent to control the growth of destructive root-knot nematodes.

Species and phylogeny

Species fungorum and GBIF currently list:

Purpureocillium atypicola (Yasuda) Spatafora, Hywel-Jones & Luangsa-ard, 2015 Purpureocillium lavendulum Perdomo, Dania García, Gené, Cano & Guarro, 2013 Purpureocillium lilacinum (Thom) Luangsa-ard, Houbraken, Hywel-Jones & Samson, 2011 Purpureocillium roseum Calvillo & Raymundo, 2020 Purpureocillium sodanum Papizadeh, Soudi, Wijayaw., Shahz.Faz. & K.D.Hyde, 2016 Purpureocillium takamizusanense (Kobayasi) S.Ban, Azuma & Hirok.Sato, 2015 a number of unclassified isolates. P. lilacinum was previously considered to be monotypic and was classified with the Fungi Imperfecti or Deuteromycetes, fungi for which perfect (i.e., sexually reproducing) states have rarely been found. "Paecilomyces lilacinus" was classified in the section Isarioidea, for which perfect states had not been found. Many isolates of P. lilacinum have been identified from around the world and it is accepted that variation exists within the species. Phylogenetic analysis of P. lilacinum isolates show that it is not related to Trichoderma or Gliocladium and is more related to the entomopathogenic Ophiocordyceps

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Purpureocillium

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Purpureocillium claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, 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 Purpureocillium 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 Purpureocillium 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 Purpureocillium

In research: Purpureocillium appears in science 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 Purpureocillium 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: Purpureocillium is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Carnivorous fungi, Fungi of Asia, Fungi of Europe, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Purpureocillium 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 Purpureocillium in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Purpureocillium 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 Purpureocillium out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Purpureocillium in simple terms?

Purpureocillium is a fungal genus in the Ophiocordycipitaceae family. The genus now contains at least 5 species with the type species Purpureocillium lilacinum, a common soil mold.

Why does Purpureocillium matter?

Because it connects several science 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 Purpureocillium?

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 Purpureocillium.