Subject: Black Yeasts?

From: [email-masked] (John A Gerrath)
Date: 23 Aug 1994 03:54:59 GMT

I'm doing a survey of lithic algae here in Ontario and am (of course) 
picking up a great deal of fungi in the first stage of culturing.  Most 
of the fungi are pretty easy to peg, but (again of course) some are 
fairly strange.  Many of these have elicited the response "black 
yeasts".  What are black yeasts?  Where are they, taxonomically speaking, 
within the fungi?  Are they fungi?  What is a good source for identifying 
them?  I'm getting some types exclusively from lichen fruiting bodies, is 
this odd?   Why/why not?  Please stop me from asking more questions!

Thanks in advance.

John Gerrath,
[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (NDPM)
Date: 24 Aug 1994 18:20:04 -0400

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (John
A Gerrath) writes:

What are black yeasts?

We work with a black yeast Wangiella dermatitidis in the laboratory of
Paul Szaniszlo at UT Austin.  There are numerous so called black yeasts. 
Look for publications by M.R. McGinnis.  He is an authority on the
subject.  Send us some of your yeasts if you want to.  It would be
interesting to see if Wangiella is among them. Regards.
                                                                    Phil
McIntosh

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From: [email-masked] (Peter Herman x5495)
Date: 24 Aug 1994 21:12:25 GMT

>this odd?   Why/why not?  Please stop me from asking more questions!

The black yeasts are a group of imperfect fungi(in the Hyphomycetes)
which all have dark pigment and blastic conidiogenesis.  The biggie 
in the group is Aureobasidium pullulans (Pullaria pullulans)  There
is a 1962 monograph on the group by Bridge Cooke that is useful in
keying them out.  (W.B. Cook, Mycopathol. Mycol. Appl 17:1-44).

I suspect that your isolates from lichens are on the lichen rather
than the fungal partner in the lichen.  I have done some work on a
specific symbiotic interaction with a gall midge (Lasioptera
ephedricola) in gall formation on Morman tea (Ephedra trifurca).  In
the course of the study, I sampled a variety of plant leaves and
stems as well as soil (though no lichens) and found A. pullulans
nearly everywhere I looked.  The literature lists it as cosmopolitan
and common so this was not a big surprise.  We are currently trying
to do some DNA fingerprinting using Pollack's method (Appl. Environ
Microbiol 58:877-883) in order to resolve some isues on the source
of the inoculum found in the galls (adjacent leaf vs selected by the
insect from a remote source).

Hope this helps

Peter Herman
Biology
New Mexico State Univ
[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (John A Gerrath)
Date: 25 Aug 1994 02:44:28 GMT

Peter Herman x5495 ([email-masked]) wrote:
: In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (John A Gerrath) writes:
: >[SNIPPED]
: >I'm getting some types [BLACK YEASTS] exclusively from lichen fruiting 
bodies,

: [SNIPPED AGAIN]

: I suspect that your isolates from lichens are on the lichen rather
: than the fungal partner in the lichen.  

Yep.  I didn't figure that they were actually part of the symbiosis, a 
parasite was more along my thought lines.  I do find most of the yeasts 
everywhere (actually most often BELOW the surface, but perhaps they just 
show up better because the rock screens out most other things) but I find 
one particular type almost always on the yellow fruiting bodies of a 
crustose microlichen (no ident. on it, sorry).  Are Black Yeasts generally 
like other yeasts in their habits and ecology?  I gather from your post 
that they do not have any symbiotic attachments with anything.  I may be 
a Botanist (I am), but these fungi are making me crazy with questions!

>From the green world to the dark world, thanks for the help.

John Gerrath,
Research Technician,
University of Guelph,
[email-masked]