Spore question

[BROCSMAN]

I found what I'm sure is Kuehneromyces mutabilis today, and thought I'd have a look at it under the microscope. The spores look the right size, and I think they have a germ pore, but they all show these oil drops, which aren't mentioned in my books. Can someone tell me if I'm mistaken?

[Ditiola]

Hi
I often find oil drops in spores, I think it is quite common, and depends on what chemical you mount your spores in. I do not think they are often mentioned unless it is an important feature required for identification.

Peter

[Chris Yeates]

I agree with Peter - the mountant is critical; lactophenol in particular can produce odd effects - in ascospores often what one is seeing is not oil-drops but so called "De Bary bubbles" - see:

http://www.ascofrance.com/doc/uploads/48.pdf

C

[BROCSMAN]

Thanks both. These were just mounted in Congo Red. I found a photo on the Internet of some K. mutabilis spores looking just the same. Maybe I'll try again with Meltzers and see what happens.

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by BROCSMAN

Thanks both. These were just mounted in Congo Red. I found a photo on the Internet of some K. mutabilis spores looking just the same. Maybe I'll try again with Meltzers and see what happens.

Lugol's Iodine is much preferable to Meltzer's

C

[BROCSMAN]

Thanks for the tip. Where do I get it?

[mollisia]

Hello,

Originally Posted by Chris Yeates

Lugol's Iodine is much preferable to Meltzer's

C

not for Basidiomycetes ....

best regards,
Andreas

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by mollisia

Hello,



not for Basidiomycetes ....

best regards,
Andreas

why is that Andreas? (don't forget, I'm largely an asco and anamorphic fungus guy)

Chris

[mollisia]

Hello Chris,

basidiomycetes:
to give the best (means strongest) reaction, chloral hydrate in the iodine solution is needed. Therefor Melzers is a combination of iode and iode-kalium-iodine with chloral hydrate. You will have best results in Russula spore ornamentation or in weakly amyloid spore walls, when you let soak the gill fragment for some minutes in Melzers, then replace the Melzers by pure chloral hydrate and watch in this medium.
The same is true for the ascus tips in Peziza, but I have not checked that myself and only relay on what was told to me.

ascomycetes (inoperculates):
To see the porus reaction, especially the hemiamyloidity, it is absolutely necessary to use a iode - iode-kalium-iodine combination WITHOUT chloral hydrate. Only when using this in a certain range of concentration ("Lugols solution" or better "Barals solution", the latter being a little bit stronger), you will have those 20% of inoperculates that react RED instead of blue or negative. Also when using KOH (in exsiccates e.g.), no RED reaction can be achieved - it will always be blue or negative.

So, if you are doing all kind of fungi, I would strongly recommend to have Melzers AND Lugols/Barals. I'm not a friend of too much different stains and chemicals, but in this case I see differences that makes it necessary.

best regards,
Andreas

[Ditiola]

A few years ago I tried Lugols Iodine to see if it would be a suitable alternative to recommend to anyone having difficulty in obtaining Melzers. I found that the amyloyd reaction was very similar to Meltzers but perhaps I was using spores that had a strong reaction anyway and I have not tried the other reactions such as Asci tips with Lugols. However,when using Lugols with Dextrinoid spores they also stained Black and not brown as they are supposed to in the Dextrinoid reaction.

Peter