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fungal conidiation

traitmech:000657 · CLASS · PROPOSED

A reproductive phenotype in which a fungus produces nonmotile asexual propagules called conidia through outgrowth from conidiogenous cells or conversion of pre-existing hyphal cells.

Trait evidence (4)

  • DOI:10.2336/nishinihonhifu.40.1083
    produce asexual, nonmotile and usually deciduous propagules (conidia) by de novo growth from, or conversion of a fertile hypha (conidiogenous cell).

    Cole (1978), publisher abstract directly retrieved at https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/nishinihonhifu/40/6/40_6_1083/_article/-char/en. The article is labeled Mini Review and supports terminology, not independent experimental replication. Its historical Deuteromycetes classification is not imposed on the trait. Both new outgrowth and conversion of existing cells are retained; detached spores, an aerial stalk and one spore shape are not universal requirements. The exact DOI query returned no Europe PMC records. Full text and figures were not inspected.

  • DOI:10.1101/gad.3.4.559
    The filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa responds to nutrient deprivation and dessication by producing asexual spores, or conidia.

    Springer and Yanofsky (1989), PMID:2524423, scientific abstract retrieved directly from Europe PMC. The source spelling dessication is preserved. Primary scanning-electron microscopy and fluorescent-probe study of wild-type and morphological mutants: the abstract describes apical proconidial budding, septation and disarticulation. Early chains can return to hyphal growth; later chains are committed. These are source-reported observations, not personally inspected figures. Full Methods, figures and independent strain provenance were not read, so no canonical Neurospora strain or universal nutrient/stress requirement is asserted.

  • DOI:10.1016/j.simyco.2017.09.001
    H–I. Conidiophores, conidiogenous cells and conidia.

    Woudenberg et al. (2017), PMID:29158610, PMC5679026, Figure 7 caption, Cephalotrichum lignatile CBS 209.63. The actual panels were inspected together with Taxonomy and Methods. H-I show the named structures; J shows conidia. The description reports conidia in basipetal chains. Microscopic descriptions use SNA cultures after 14 days at 25 C in darkness; A-C instead show OA, MEA and DG18 colonies. These are descriptive morphology observations, not time-lapse proof of each developmental transition.

  • PMID:9199700
    The developmental cycle of S. griseus starts and ends as a conidium.

    Szabo et al. (1997), Phenotypic heterogeneity of the progeny of Streptomyces griseus conidia; scientific abstract retrieved directly from Europe PMC by PMID. This is terminology boundary evidence, not a fungal observation: the paper uses conidium for a bacterial reproductive cell. It motivates the fungal label qualifier without equating bacterial and fungal developmental mechanisms. No taxon mapping, full-text inspection or bacterial canonical example is asserted.

Provenance

Identifier source
TraitMech local identifier
Definition source
DOI:10.2336/nishinihonhifu.40.1083

Parent traits (1)

kg-microbe context

No kg-microbe node embedding matched this record in the 2026-04-25 deepwalk.

Canonical examples (1)

Organisms cited as exemplars of this trait. Taxon ids are NCBITaxon and link out to the NCBI record.

  • Cephalotrichum lignatile NCBITaxon:2041050 DOI:10.1016/j.simyco.2017.09.001 Ex-type culture CBS 209.63. Figure 7H-J and the primary taxonomic description document conidiogenous structures and conidia in basipetal chains. Microscopic descriptions use SNA after 14 days at 25 C in darkness. Specimen examined and Table 1 at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5679026/ identify Hennebert's 1959 isolate from timber in a cave at Han-sur-Lesse, Belgium. This is primary isolate provenance, not an inferred wild-type or GMO status. The observation does not imply production at every life stage or condition.

Discussions and Knowledge Gaps (2)

Open questions attached to this trait. Seeded by just knowledge-gap-scan and curated; see the corpus-wide index.

Review a reproductive phenotype parent and qualified mappings.

CURATION TODO OPEN fungal-conidiation-scope-and-hierarchy · raised by codex · 2026-10-07

Not yet attached to a section of this record — a curator sets attaches_to (e.g. causal_graphs#some_edge) so the gap shows beside the mechanism it concerns.

Retain phenotype METPO:1000059. Sporulation METPO:1000870 and spore forming METPO:1000871 concern endospores, whereas mycelial growth traitmech:000074 concerns bacterial hyphae. The four obsolete METPO conidium/conidia classes denote material entities, not an active organismal phenotype. PMID:9199700 documents bacterial conidium usage, so the fungal qualifier is intentional. Synnema formation traitmech:000656 is stalk aggregation and includes sporeless forms; neither trait is imposed as the other's is-a parent. Pseudohyphal growth traitmech:000653 is a cell arrangement, not equivalent to conidial production. Leave exact synonyms and xrefs unset pending authority and scope review; process ontology classes need not be exact organismal phenotypes.

Separate developmental routes and organism-specific mechanisms.

KNOWLEDGE GAP OPEN fungal-conidiation-development-and-mechanism · raised by codex · 2026-10-07

Not yet attached to a section of this record — a curator sets attaches_to (e.g. causal_graphs#some_edge) so the gap shows beside the mechanism it concerns.

The class covers outgrowth and conversion of existing hyphal cells, rather than only one Aspergillus-like conidiophore architecture. Do not require an aerial stalk, a synnema, one cell or nucleus per conidium, a particular pigment, immediate detachment, dormancy or a universal nutritional trigger. Early proconidial chains alone need not establish committed development. Distinguish production from conidial germination, sexual spore formation and spores formed by cleavage within a sporangium. Do not infer the trait from a gene inventory or ordinary yeast budding without source identification of conidial production. A causal graph is deferred pending direct perturbation details, natural-strain provenance and taxon-paired protein accessions; no universal BrlA, WetA or autophagy dependence is asserted.

Curation history

  1. · MINTED_TRAITMECH_ID · codex

    Added fungal conidiation with four source-backed snippets, a qualified Cephalotrichum lignatile example and explicit bacterial terminology and developmental boundaries. Ignored-and-hidden searches and structured METPO review found no exact live record. Reserved METPO:1061000 in v533; existing records unchanged.

Recorded curation sessions

  • · codex
    • CREATE — Add evidence-backed fungal conidiation phenotype

      Minted traitmech:000657 with three DOI-backed sources and a PMID-backed bacterial terminology boundary, four directly checked snippets, a strain-qualified Cephalotrichum lignatile CBS 209.63 example, and two open scope/mechanism discussions. Reserved METPO:1061000 in v533. Distinguish conidial production from endospores and stalk aggregation; preserve source-access and developmental limits. Existing records unchanged; causal graph deferred.

    Read this curation session