Dimorphic fungus

Several species of dimorphic fungi are important pathogens of humans and other animals, including Coccidioides immitis, Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, Blastomyces dermatitidis, Some diseases caused by dimorphic fungi are: • sporotrichosis • blastomycosis • histoplasmosis • coccidioidomycosis • paracoccidioidomycosis • talaromycosis • candidiasis Many other fungi, including the plant pathogen Ustilago maydis and the cheesemaker's fungus Geotrichum candidum also have dimorphic life cycles. == Mnemonics ==

In medical mycology, these memory aids help students remember that among human pathogens, dimorphism largely reflects temperature: • Mold in the Cold, Yeast in the Heat (Beast) • Body Heat Probably (Changes) Shape • Blastomyces dermatitidis, Histoplasma capsulatum, Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, (Coccidioides immitis) is in parentheses because it changes to a spherule of endospores, not yeast, in the heat), Sporothrix schenckii. • This phrase says "Probably" because there is always an exception (in this case fungi like Candida albicans) which change in the opposite direction: to mold in the heat! == Notes ==