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Laboratory Exercise 16
FUNGI: MOLDS
To identify fungi microscopically, it is important to observe certain structures (spores) and the
arrangement of the structures which produce the spores. When you begin culturing fungi and
observing them microscopically on microscopic slides, you will wonder how anything can be seen
and identified in such a tangled, broken up mess. You think that it would be good to see the fungi
microscopically exactly as they are growing in your medium. There is such a method called
Microculturing. Briefly, you will grow a fungus on a microscopic slide so when you are ready to
observe it, you disturb it very little.
Materials: PDA (Potato dextrose agar) plates, sterile toothpicks, sterile Petri plates, sterile distilled
water, glass slides, cover slips, sterile scalpel blade, bent wire needle, forceps
Procedure:
Part 1. Examination of Fungi (Molds)
1. Open and expose a potato dextrose agar plate to designated areas for 30 minutes. Close the
plate and seal it with a parafilm. Incubate the plate at room temperature for 7 days.
2. Take note of the colony morphology (colony diameter, color, color changes and the texture of the
colony surface whether loose, compact, wrinkled or buckled) from the agar surface every 24
hours.
3. Draw your observation (1st to 7th day culture).