| dc.description.abstract | Fungi can be found everywhere in natural and domestic environments and their effects on human activity are numerous and vary widely. Fungi have been used to produce foods, beverages, biofuels, household items, biocatalysts, and so on. However, uncontrolled fungal growth can be costly to human health, agriculture, forestry, and livestock. If they feed on humans, fungi can cause diseases such as ringworm, athlete’s foot, lung infections, etc. An example is a fungal/mold overgrowth after a hurricane or flood. The effects on human health may last over years and even lifetimes. In order to prevent damage from mold growth, and minimize the consequences of mold exposure, timely and accurate identification of mold species is required. Conventional methods, like characterizing morphological features or sequencing their genes, are time-consuming and required extensive training. Herein, we apply Raman spectroscopy to identify and characterize mold spore species and demonstrate that the Raman signals originate from melanin molecules within the cell wall. In further studies of 10 mold species, we discover that the main features of Raman spectra of spores correlate with melanin bio-synthesis pathway, find a clue and give a prediction of one species whose synthesis pathway was not well-known before. Finally, we adopt a coherent Raman technique, coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy, to achieve rapid detection and chemical imaging of mold conidia. | |
