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Article: Mycology
- Article from:
- World of Microbiology and Immunology
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Mycology
Mycology is the study of
fungi
, including molds and yeasts. The study of mycology encompasses a huge number of
microorganisms
. Indeed, just considering molds, the estimates of the number of species ranges from the tens of thousands to over 300,000.
Fungi are eukaryotic microorganisms (
eukaryotes
have their nucleic material contained within a membrane), which can produce new daughter fungi by a process similar to
bacteria
, where the nuclear material replicates and then the cell splits to form two daughter cells, or via sexual reproduction, where nuclear material from two fungi are mixed together and the daughter cells inherit material from both parents. Growth of fungi ...