The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a federal agency that conducts and supports health promotion, prevention and preparedness activities in the United States with the goal of improving overall public health.
4. Dimorphic fungi may exhibit two different growth forms. Outside the body they grow as a mold, producing hyphae and asexual reproductive spores, but in the body they grow in a yeast-like form. 5. The appearance of a mold and the type of spores it produces is useful in its identification.. Dimorphic fungi. Dimorphic fungi may exhibit two different growth forms. Outside the body they grow as a mold, producing hyphae and asexual reproductive spores, but in the body they grow in a non-mycelial yeast form.
The signature feature of systemic dimorphic fungi â a family of six primary fungal pathogens of humans â is a temperature-induced phase transition. These fungi grow as a mold in soil at ambient temperature and convert to yeast after infectious spores are inhaled into the lungs of a mammalian host. Seminal work 20 years ago established that a temperature-induced phase transition from mold to yeast is required for virulence.