What is the form and function of fungal spores?

Dean, Graduate School, Assistant Provost and Professor, Plant Biology

My research interests center on the use of transmission and scanning electron microscopy and laser confocal microscopy in the study of the morphology and development of sporulating structures with an emphasis on cell wall development in fungi. Members of both the Zygomycetes and Ascomycetes are studied. A secondary goal is the understanding of form and function of fungal spores.

A corollary interest is in seeking to develop electron microscopy techniques for the plant-related sciences.

Selected Publications

Artifacts in Biological Electron Microscopy. Edited by R.E. Crang and K.L. Klomparens. Plenum Press. 1988. 233 pp.

Czymmek, K. and K.L. Klomparens. 1992. Ascosporogenesis in Thelebolus crustaceous: Enveloping membrane system and ascospore initial development. Can. J. Bot. 70:1669-1683.

Edelmann, R.E. and K.L. Klomparens. 1994. The ultrastructural development of sporangiospores in multi-spored sporangia of Zygorhynchus heterogamus with a hypothesis for sporangial wall dissolution. Mycologia 86:57-71.

Edelmann, R.E. and K.L. Klomparens. 1995. Low temperature scanning electron microscopy of ultrastructural development of sporangiospores in Mycotypha africans and the effects of cultural conditions on reproduction. Mycological Research 99:539-548.