User talk:AnuYo/sandbox

Peer Review by Stefaniemogen
Hi AnuYo,

I looked over your Sandbox page and I think you're off to a great start - I would just like to add in a few comments and questions to help you elaborate more on your solid foundation.

History section: You mentioned that P. verrucosum was named by Dierckx in 1901 - since this is still used today, you could briefly discuss how Dierckx discovered the fungus, how he cultivated/cultured it, and possibly how he came up with the name (if you can find that information). Also, just a small formatting comment - you just have to mention Penicillium verrucosum in its entirety the first time you mention it; any subsequent times you use the name, it should be shortened to P. verrucosum. It is really interesting how there are six different variations of P. verrucosum with 6 different colony colours - do these colours have any significance or relevance to the function of those varieties, or are they still 100% similar in physiology?

Taxonomy: It's cool to see how taxonomic naming changes over time and how there seems to be a constant debate of whether two fungi are considered the same or different species. For this section, I would recommend for you to briefly describe what some similarities are between P. verrucosum and Penicillium viridicatum, and then go on to say scientists discovered that they were different species because of their growth rates and mycotoxins produced. Speaking of mycotoxins, you could list which mycotoxin each of them produces.

Habitat and ecology: I think you should add another point to describe its ecological role, which I think is a facultative biotroph by the description of what P. verrucosum grows on. If they live in cooler climates, does that mean their optimal temperature for growth is a low temperature?

Growth and morphology: When you say there is slow growth on ALL mediums (I'll make a small correction and say the plural of medium is media!), how many different media was tested for growth of P. verrucosum? Instead of saying ALL media, perhaps you can say MANY media, and then state a few specific ones. A minor typo on the 6th point of this section (you forgot the 'o' in conidiophores). There was some terminology that I wasn't familiar with, like metulae and phialides, so I suggest you wiki link those pages, since there are probably whole Wikipedia articles describing those terms. It's interesting that P. verrucosum has a pungent odour. I wonder if this attracts insect vectors for conidial dispersal, like examples we learned in class. Really great, well-detailed section.

Physiology: This relates to one of my previous comments, but if P. verrucosum lives in cooler climates and would probably grow best in cooler temperatures, how is it able to withstand the high body heat of mammals? You said some fungi live in the extremities, where temperature is usually lower - is this the case for P. verrucosum? You also mentioned that optimal germination temperature is between 21⁰C and 23⁰C, which surprises me because northern temperate climates are rarely at that high of a temperature, so do the conidia germinate in the spring/summer? The mycotoxin produced seems quite powerful! You may want to add how exactly it is removed from the grain after harvesting.

Disease in humans: This is a well done section, although I would suggest you describe in a bit more detail the diagnosis (blood tests to check for ochratoxin A, culturing P. verrucosum on a medium?), the epidemiology (people who consume animal products like pig meat?), and treatment of Balkan Endemic Nephropathy, if there is a treatment.

Overall, you have a lot of great points! One last thing I would point out is to cite your references using the reference template, rather than in line citation using the autocite method. Good luck and hope my comments helped!

Stefaniemogen (talk) 02:22, 28 October 2016 (UTC)