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Ecology of the Human Opportunistic Black Yeast Exophiala dermatitidis Indicates Preference for Human-Made Habitats

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Abstract

Exophiala dermatitidis is an ascomycetous black yeast from the order Chaetothyriales. Its growth characteristics include the polymorphic life cycle, ability to grow at high and low temperatures, at a wide pH range, survival at high concentrations of NaCl, and survival at high UV and radioactive radiation. Exophiala dermatitidis causes deep or localized phaeohyphomycosis in immuno-compromised people worldwide and is regularly encountered in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients. Regardless of numerous ecological studies worldwide, little is known about its natural habitat or the possible infection routes. The present review summarizes the published data on its frequency of occurrence in nature and in man-made habitats. We additionally confirmed its presence with culture-depending methods from a variety of habitats, such as glacial meltwater, mineral water, mineral-rich salt-pan mud, dishwashers, kitchens and different environments polluted with aromatic hydrocarbons. In conclusion, the frequency of its recovery was the highest in man-made indoor habitats, connected to water sources, and exposed to occasional high temperatures and oxidative stress.

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Acknowledgements

Authors kindly acknowledge everybody who helped to collect the samples. We also thank the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology of the Republic of Slovenia in corporation with Slovenia Research Agency for financially supporting Jerneja Zupančič as a Young Researcher (Grant No. 382228-1/2013), as well as the Slovenian Research Agency ARRS for providing financial support to the Infrastructural Centre Mycosmo, MRIC UL (Grant P2-0103).

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  1. Department of Biology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Monika Novak Babič, Jerneja Zupančič, Nina Gunde-Cimerman & Polona Zalar

  2. Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute, Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Sybren de Hoog

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  1. Monika Novak Babič
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Babič, M.N., Zupančič, J., Gunde-Cimerman, N. et al. Ecology of the Human Opportunistic Black Yeast Exophiala dermatitidis Indicates Preference for Human-Made Habitats. Mycopathologia 183, 201–212 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-017-0134-8

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