Fungus
I came across this excellent example of an Aspergillus species foot cell and wished to share it. I couldn't restate the description any better that what already appears in the text below. (see footnotes for source)
"During mycelial differentiation certain cells enlarge, develop a heavy cell wall and form ‘T’ or ‘L’ shaped ‘foot cells’ (which are not separate cells) that produce a single conidiophore perpendicular to the long axis of the cell. Sometimes it is difficult to see the foot ‘cell,’ but when visible, morphologists take it as strong evidence that an isolate is an Aspergillus species. The erect hyphal branch developing from the foot cell is the conidiophore, which enlarges at its apex to form a rounded, elliptical or club shaped vesicle. (1) "
Aspergillus species foot cell seen at base of conidiophore (arrow)(click on photo to enlarge for better viewing)
Aspergillus species foot cell seen at base of conidiophore (arrow)(click on photo to enlarge for better viewing)
(1) Text Source Quoted: Aspergillus: Molecular Biology and Genomics
Edited by: Masayuki Machida and Katsuya Gomi
Published: 2010
(Photos are mine)
For further reading see also;
Mycopathologia
Volume 49, Numbers 2-3, 209-215,
Ratna Singh
