Sporangiospore lipids of the mycelial fungus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Mucor ramannianus</Emphasis> incapable of dimorphic growth

Members of the species Mucor ramannianus are believed to be monomorphic. They grow only as a mycelium and are not capable of growth as budding cells, i.e., of dimorphic growth. In our study, we investigated the lipid composition of M. ramannianus sporangiospores, which retained the capability of initiating mycelial growth in the course of long-term cultivation of the spore-forming mycelium. It was demonstrated that sporangiospores contained high concentrations of triacylglycerides (TAG) in their reserve lipids and high concentrations of phosphatidylcholine (PC) in their membrane lipids; low concentrations of methylated ergosterol precursors were detected among sterols. On the basis of the data presented, in order to evaluate the potential of mucor fungi for yeastlike growth, it has been suggested to analyze the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of their sporangiospore lipids and to consider the following criteria as the criteria of sporangiospore capacity for giving rise to yeastlike growth upon spore germination: (1) the phosphatidylethanolamine/phosphatidylcholine (PE/PC) ratio; (2) the level of ergosterol and the ratio between the methylated and demethylated sterols; as well as (3) the ratios between phospholipids and glycolipids (PL/GL) and (4) between etherified and free sterols (ES/FS).