Talk:Mortierella polycephala/Archive 1

Cynthia's Peer Review
Hello Antinor2,

I was reading over your article's outline for Mortierella polycephala and it looks like you're off to a great start! I like how well organized and concise everything is. Mortierella polycephala seems to have some charming and very interesting characteristics! Here are some suggestions that I hope may be helpful for you as you continue to build upon your article:

Lead
 * I noticed that you have not yet created a Leading section for your fungus. The lead is a short introduction to your fungus. I like to think of this as the mini "Abstract" of the article; it gives the reader an overview of the most important information about your fungus. It should be the first section of an article (placed before the taxobox). Don't forget to include this into your final article! If you'd like to read more about creating a good lead, take a look at this page How to create and manage a good lead section

History and taxonomy
 * It looks like you've done a great job covering the important information about Mortierella polycephala's history. I like that your points flow sequentially describing all the major points of who discovered M. polycephala, where it was discovered as well as where it fits within the genus.
 * I know that you mentioned under "Habitat and ecology" that Mortierella polycephala is found in many countries throughout the world, however it may be important to mention where Mortierella polycephala was first discovered under this section. Looking at your first reference, it appears that Coemans published his findings in French in a Belgium journal. I'm not sure if you can read French (luckily, I am fluent in French) but I was able to find a digital version of the journal here: https://archive.org/details/mobot31753002103569/page/536. According to page 539 of the journal, Coemans describes "observing Mortierella polycephala, in November on the Polyporus perennis and an undetermined Dedalae in fir forests around Melle and Merelbeke, Belgium near Ghent, Belgium." I hope this translation helps!
 * It may also be helpful to include a link to the Chlamydospore wikipedia page for readers who may not know what this is.

Growth and morphology
 * I like how you've organized all of your information into short and concise points that are easy to read and follow.
 * I noticed you haven't mentioned anything about Mortierella polycephala's reproduction. While you mention it's ability to produce spores, does the fungus have both asexual and/or sexual states? Do the colonies grow in filaments or does it have a more yeast-like growth? You may want to include a few lines describing these in this section.
 * Also, it may be helpful to use a non-breaking space between a number and its corresponding units. For example, in your second line, try using 20 &deg;C instead.

Physiology
 * You have a good start here with clearly identifying metabolites that your fungus produces. I imagine you would be expanding upon your first 2 points in your final article clearly describing how M. polycephala can decompose chitin and liquify gelatin (using what mechanisms or under which conditions). If relevant it may be useful to divise a subheading here on its industrial applications (does liquifying gelatin have an application to the food industry?). To make a subheading, you can put 3 equal signs around the words you want to make a subheading.

Habitat and ecology
 * To help build upon this section, it may be helpful to think about where Mortierella polycephala grows, (on soil, decaying organic material, etc.) You can even think bigger, mentioning whether the fungus is an indoor or outdoor fungi.
 * Your second point states that Mortierella polycephala can be found in many parts of the world. It might be useful to describe Mortierella polycephala as having a Cosmopolitan distribution as we learned in class.

Pathogenicity
 * Your points here look well-detailed and descriptive :)
 * For your last point, be careful of using biased language. You may want to rephrase this when revising your final article to represent a more neutral statement of the misidentification.
 * Don't forget to add the non-breaking spaces with your units as well as the degree sign!

Related species
 * Seeing that you only have one point here, it may be better to merge this section with the "History and taxonomy" section. Perhaps it could be included as a subheading under "History and taxonomy". Remember, you can add 3 equal signs around the the words "Related species" to make it a subheading.

I hope this was all helpful. Good luck working on your article! :) Cynthia.somai (talk) 16:30, 28 October 2018 (UTC)

Polly's Peer Review
XiongP (talk) 21:28, 2 November 2018 (UTC)
 * You might want to include a lead section to act as the introduction and to summarize your fungi
 * Very concise and clear about its history so you might want to expand about the taxonomy or the reasoning for the previous renaming’s it overwent
 * You should mention the original naming given by Coemans in the section (please write his full name the first time it appears in the article)
 * You can mention where it was first discovered and the specific type of mushroom it was first isolated from
 * Similarly, you can also expand on the first observations of the fungi. Was there a historical significance to the first sighting?
 * You talk about it’s role in cattle abortion later in the article, you could describe when this was first observed as well but considering the reference for this is not in English, that may be difficult to include
 * As you describe the spore transmission in Habitat and ecology, you should describe the sexual/asexual reproduction of the fungi. What’s the spore producing structure? Are they are forcibly discharged (Ballistospores) or discharged as the result of an external force (Statismospores)?
 * For Physiology, you should consider expanding on how exactly it decomposes chitin (avoid using “good” unless you plan on clarifying why it’s a good decomposer, be neutral), is there a purpose for decomposing chitin?
 * The liquification of gelatin would need clarification as well. How/who prove this? Why does this occur? Is there a practical application for this?
 * Habitat and ecology needs to be expanded upon like what are the preferred habitats? You mention it’s found on mouse, bat, and rat faeces, are those the only places it’s abundant?
 * It appears it was frequently misidentified with M. wolfii for pathogenicity prior to 1968 as a cause of cattle mycosis, this may be worth putting into the article and reading https://eurekamag.com/pdf/009/009128440.pdf
 * In particular, the article notes that all experimental reports describing mycosis older than 1968 could be misidentified as they predate the characterization of M. wolfii as a pathogen in 1973
 * You mention it causes abortions in cattle, please expand – was this another misidentification? If not, how does it cause abortions?
 * According to http://www.aduveterinaryjournal.org/files/20140302-3.pdf, it doesn’t seem like Mortierella polycephala have any recorded human infections – you could describe it as limited to cattle
 * For Related Species, it might be worthwhile to explain how they’re closely related or why it’s of note to the reader. Otherwise, you should merge it with another section like physiology if you go into detail about the similar metabolism they may have
 * Overall it’s a very good start!

Some suggestions
Medmyco (talk) 19:48, 17 November 2018 (UTC)
 * references and formatting look OK
 * make sure you close up the space between references and text or punctuation
 * a few things you could link: oxalic acid, acetic acid, gelatin, chitin, Belgium, China, France, etc.,
 * what is the species epithet “polycephala” in reference to?
 * there are a few topics you might be able to expand on, e.g., pathogenicity
 * good job so far!