Question:
Why is Cryptococus neoformans
heterothallic? What does heterothallic mean?
Replies:
Cryptococcus neoformans (sp) is also known as
Filobasidiella neoformans. This is a human pathogenic
fungus.
You can check the taxonomic database at NCBI for the
taxonomy of the organism (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
or for scientific publications dealing with this.
If you want to find micro-organisms by a name that is
outdated (they change names faster than you can change
your hair color) use the following site:
http://www.biosis.org.uk/triton/indexfm.htm
But not that this site does not correct for spelling
mistakes.
If you use the encyclopedia Brittannica
(http://www.britannica.com) with the entry
'heterothallic' you will get all info you want. An
excerpt:
"Many fungi produce differentiated male and female
organs on the same thallus but do not undergo
self-fertilization because their sex organs are
incompatible. Such fungi require the presence of
thalli of different mating types in order for sexual
fusion to take place. The simplest form of this
mechanism occurs in fungi in which there are two
mating types, often designated + and - (or A and a).
Gametes produced by one type of thallus are compatible
only with gametes produced by the other type. Such
fungi are said to be heterothallic."
I am telling you how I found the information because it
if you do not know something, know how to find it.
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