Aureobasidium aerium (Saccotheciaceae, Dothideales), a new yeast-like fungus from the air in Beijing, China

Abstract

During the surveys of air fungi in Beijing, China, a new ascomycetous black yeast-like species was isolated. Morphological and phylogenetical analyses of combined internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and the large ribosomal subunit (LSU) showed that it can be recognized as a new species of the genus Aureobasidium. Herein, Aureobasidium aerium sp. nov. is proposed and illustrated.

Proposal of Four New Aureobasidium Species for Exopolysaccharide Production

“…The species of Aureobasidium are widely distributed globally in various habitats, such as house dust, air, tree surfaces (such as needles of Pinus tabuliformis, Acer pseudosieboldianum, Bintaro plants, Castanea henryi, and Castanea mollissima), plant interiors, seawater, sea ice and glacial meltwaters, water and sediment samples, soil, and subcutaneous phaeohyphomycosis from the US, Canada, Korea, Indonesia, China, the Arctic coast, and Brittany (France) [1,8,10,11,18,21,23]. In this study, many strains were isolated from soil and plant leaves, but strain KCL139 was isolated from the surface of a spittle insect.…”

“…Notes-This species is phylogenetically close to A. aerium, A. intercalariosporum, A. leucospermi, and A. khasianum. These five species can be distinguished by the sizes of conidia (4.2-7.4 × 1.7-3.5 µm in A. insectorum, vs. 12.8-19.5 × 7.9-11.9 µm in A. aerium, vs. 8-13 × 5-9/8-24 × 2-10 µm in A. leucosperm, vs. 3-4 × 2-40 µm in A. khasianum, vs. 10.5-17.1 × 10.5-12.9 µm in A. intercalariosporum) [11,12,40]. Colonies grew moderately on PDA, MEA, and OA (Figure 2), attaining 22 mm, 24 mm, and 30 mm diameters after 7 days of incubation at 25 °C, respectively.…”

“…Species of Aureobasidium are widely distributed and normally possess multiple trophic modes. They are often found as saprophytes, endophytes, and pathogens in diverse environments, such as plant materials (roots, leaves, bark), water, marine sediments, swamps, soil, air, skin, and high osmotic environments (significant osmotic stress) [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. The species of Aureobasidium produce one-celled conidia of various shapes from hyaline and terminal, lateral, or intercalary conidiogenous cells [4,9].…”

“…In recent years, with the high accessibility of sequencing services and a large amount of available molecular data, the number of novel Aureobasidium species is increasing. Thirteen new species have been proposed, namely, Aureobasidium acericola [10], A. aerium [11], A. castaneae [12], A. iranianum [13], A. leucospermi [14], A. mangrovei [15], A. microtermitis [16], A. mustum [17], A. pini [18], A. thailandense [19], A. tremulum [20], and A. uvarum and A. vineae [17].…”

Use of Aureobasidium in a sustainable economy

“…Aureobasidium is described as mildew or blue or black stain (de Hoog 1993 ) and is popularly known as black yeast (Singh et al 2015 ). Species of this genus can be found on all continents (Loque et al 2010 ; Merín et al 2011 ; Onetto et al 2020 ; Peterson et al 2013 ; van Nieuwenhuijzen et al 2016 ; Woody et al 2003 ) and have been isolated from air, water, and diverse (in)organic outdoor and indoor materials such as soil, phylloplanes, wood, rocks, marble, dishwashers, washing machines, house dust, and food (Babič et al 2015 ; Humphries et al 2017 ; Jiang et al 2018 ; Li et al 2015 ; van Nieuwenhuijzen 2014 ; Wang et al 2022a ; Zupancic et al 2016 ). Currently, 32 DNA-identified Aureobasidium species are known (Table 1 ).…”