van den Brule, T., Punt, M., Teertstra, W., Houbraken, J., Wösten, H., & Dijksterhuis, J. (2019).
Environmental microbiology
Fungi produce numerous spores that are distributed by water, air and other vectors (as insects, soil movements, etc.). Airborne spores are present in every cubic meter of air and cause fungal colonization in all environments. As reviewed recently, conidia vary in several parameters (Dijksterhuis, 2017). For instance, Aspergillus niger conidia of 5 days old showed higher trehalose content compared with spores of younger age (Teertstra et al., 2017). Conidia of Aspergillus fumigatus showed differences in pigmentation, compatible solute content and oxidative- and heat-resistance, dependent on the growth temperature of the conidia-forming colony (Hagiwara et al., 2017). In general, spore parameters are influenced by conditions during spore formation and maturation. However, there is a scarcity of information on the extent of heterogeneity of spore populations, even if they originate from one colony.
