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False colour scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of the fruiting bodies or conidia of a penicillin fungus growing on a piece of English cheddar cheese which has gone mouldy in the refrigerator. The fungus Penicillium sp. grows as a mycelium of hyphal threads on and within the cheese, sending out branches or conidiophores, which bear from their tips the conidia (tuft-like clusters). The conidia resemble beads strung together in a chain. Once ripe, each bead can germinate into a new organism. Magnification: x390 at 6x45cm size. (KEYSTONE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/DR JEREMY BURGESS .)