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Blastobotrys nigripullensis, a new yeast species isolated from a fungal outbreak on an ancient Roman shipwreck in the Netherlands

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Abstract

A new species of the yeast genus Blastobotrys was discovered on ancient ship timbers in the Netherlands. The species had developed on the wood of a river barge dating to the Roman period. The growth occurred after the preservative polyethylene glycol (PEG 4000) was washed out of some of the timbers due to an undetected leak in the storage unit. Mycological analysis of various timber samples revealed the presence of Microascus melanosporus (predominant), Microascus paisii, a member of the Acremonium chrysogenum-clade, and a new Blastrobotrys species. The new species produced sporothrix-like conidiophores with clavate blastoconidia (3–7 × 1–3.5 μm) and was found to be osmotolerant, capable of growth on low water activity media like malt yeast 50% glucose agar (MY50G). In this article we formally describe and introduce Blastrobotrys nigripullensis (CBS 17879 T) based on its morphology, physiology and phylogenetic placement.

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Acknowledgements

The authors want to thank Ronald de Vries (Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute, Utrecht) for performing some preliminary growth tests using media with lignin and ferulic acid.

Funding

The restoration project in Museumpark Archeon is made possible through the efforts of many dedicated volunteers and by financial support of the Province of South Holland, Municipality of Alphen aan den Rijn, Mondriaan Fund, VSB Fund, EDBA, Fund Alphen aan den Rijn and the Friends Lottery. Verena Schulze is thanked for assistance with the Latin name and Maarten de Weerd for valuable comments on the manuscript. TB wants to acknowledge funding from the Distinguished Scientist Fellow Programme of King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. CMV wants to acknowledge funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (RISE) under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 101008129, project acronym “Mycobiomics”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    Cobus M. Visagie

  2. Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute (WI), Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Martin Meijer, Bart Kraak, Marizeth Groenewald, Jos Houbraken & Bart Theelen

  3. Museumpark Archeon, Restoration Project: Operation Zwammerdam ships, Alphen aan den Rijn, The Netherlands

    Yardeni Vorst

  4. College of Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Teun Boekhout

  5. Retired from Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Teun Boekhout

Authors
  1. Cobus M. Visagie
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  2. Martin Meijer
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  3. Bart Kraak
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  4. Marizeth Groenewald
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  5. Jos Houbraken
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  6. Bart Theelen
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  7. Yardeni Vorst
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  8. Teun Boekhout
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All authors collected and/or generated data for this project, and also reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Teun Boekhout.

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Visagie, C.M., Meijer, M., Kraak, B. et al. Blastobotrys nigripullensis, a new yeast species isolated from a fungal outbreak on an ancient Roman shipwreck in the Netherlands. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 117, 22 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-023-01898-x

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