1 Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131 dnatvig@gmail.com.
2 Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720.
3 Centre for Structural and Functional Genomics, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, H4B 1R6 Canada.
4 Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131.
5 Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87123.

Mycothermus thermophilus gen. et comb. nov., a new home for the itinerant thermophile Scytalidium thermophilum (Torula thermophila).

Mycologia. 2015 Mar-Apr;107(2):319-27

Authors: Natvig DO, Taylor JW, Tsang A, Hutchinson MI, Powell AJ

Abstract

Thermophilic fungi have received substantial attention in industry for their potential to produce thermostable enzymes and as production platforms tolerant of high temperature. Studies exploring the ecology and biosystematics of thermophilic fungi have lagged behind studies in applied biology. The species commonly known as Scytalidium thermophilum (Chaetomiaceae) is one of the most frequently encountered organisms in surveys of thermophilic fungi. There is evidence that it is ecologically and economically important, for example in the context of commercial mushroom growing. As described here, this species should not be placed in the genus Scytalidium or any other existing genus. We propose a new genus and combination, Mycothermus thermophilus.

PMID: 25550298 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]