Rhizopus facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Rhizopus |
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| What Rhizopus looks like | |
Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Order: | Mucorales |
| Family: | Mucoraceae |
| Genus: | Rhizopus Ehrenb. (1820) |
| Type species | |
| Rhizopus nigricans Ehrenb. (1820)
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Rhizopus is a type of common fungus that you can find almost everywhere! It often grows on plants that are decaying. It can also live as a parasite on animals. You might find Rhizopus on many different things. These include old fruits and vegetables, jellies, syrups, leather, bread, peanuts, and tobacco.
Most Rhizopus species are harmless to humans. However, some can cause serious infections in people with very weak immune systems. This group of fungi includes at least eight different kinds of species.
How Rhizopus Grows
Rhizopus fungi grow as long, thin, branching threads. These threads are called hyphae. They do not have many walls inside them. This means they are like one long, open tube.
Rhizopus can make new fungi in two ways:
- Asexual reproduction: This is when the fungus makes copies of itself. It creates tiny spores inside a round case called a sporangium. This sporangium sits on a long stalk. The stalk grows from root-like parts called rhizoids.
- Sexual reproduction: This happens when two different Rhizopus threads join together. They form a dark, tough spore called a zygospore. When this zygospore grows, it creates new fungi that are a mix of both parents. This means they are genetically different.
What Rhizopus Does
Some types of Rhizopus are very useful to people!
- R. microsporus var. oligosporus is used to make tempeh. Tempeh is a food from soybeans that has been fermented. It is popular in many parts of the world.
- R. oryzae helps make alcoholic drinks in some parts of Asia and Africa.
- Rhizopus stolonifer is also known as black bread mold. It is the fuzzy black mold you sometimes see on old bread. This type of Rhizopus can cause fruits like strawberries and tomatoes to rot. It also causes rot in sweet potatoes. But it is also used to make useful things like fumaric acid and cortisone.
Types of Rhizopus
Here are some of the different species of Rhizopus:
- Rhizopus caespitosus
- Rhizopus delemari
- Rhizopus homothallicus
- Rhizopus microsporus
- Rhizopus oryzae
- Rhizopus reflexus
- Rhizopus schipperae
- Rhizopus stolonifer (black bread mold)
See also
In Spanish: Rhizopus para niños
