| The Laboulbeniales are a group of parasitic fungi growing on living arthropods, especially insects, often overlooked by many entomologists and mycologists. Possibly due to the peculiar nature of these fungi and minute size, there are still many very basic questions concerning physiology, nourishment, pathogenicity, and host specificity. Many observations conducted to date have revolved around the reliance on the light microscope, offering limited insight into their biology. Previous procedures for ultrastructural analysis have since been outdated, with components involved in fixation and embedding being very toxic. The objectives of this project were to update a sample preparation method for transmission electron microscopy (TEM), correlate between light microscope and TEM, serial section four samples; two compound antheridial and two simple antheridial species, develop ideas on form and function of ultrastructure observed, and to correlation ultrastructure of male sexual organs to current work in phylogenetics.;Key Words: perithecia, antheridia, thallus, fixative, Transmission electron microscopy. |
