Question

The scientific name of Red Bread Mould is –
A. Neurospora
B. Mucor
C. Rhizopus
D. Aspergillus

Answer 1

Hint:The red bread mold is an Ascomycete fungus. This fungus infects the moist and stale bread. The presence of moisture around bread may lead to the growth of fungi.

Complete answer: Neurospora crassa is a red bread mold of the phylum Ascomycetes. The genus name means "nerve spore" in Greek and refers to the characteristic striations on the spores. The first published account of this fungus dates back to 1843 when it infested French bakeries.
It is used as a model organism as it is easy to grow and has a haploid life cycle which makes genetic analysis simple as recessive traits will show up in the offspring.
Neurospora was used by Beadle and Tatum in their experiments for which they won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1958. They exposed N. crassa to x-rays which causes mutations.

Additional information: In the life cycle of Neurospora crassa, the haploid mycelium reproduces asexually by two processes –
The simple proliferation of existing mycelium
Formation of conidia (macro- and micro-) which are then dispersed and germinate to produce new mycelium.
In the sexual cycle, mating only occurs between individual strains of different mating types, A and a. Fertilization will occur by the passage of nuclei of conidia or mycelium of one mating type into the protoperithecia of the other mating type through the trichogyne. The fusion of the two nuclei occurs inside the protoperithecia to form a zygote (2N) nucleus.

Note: The red bread mold has been a great influence in genetic studies because of its haploid life cycle. The growth of fungus on food can be due to bad sanitation. Also, if the food is left open for a lot of time, the fungi get a chance to invade.