Aureobasidium pullulans

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Aureobasidium pullulans is a ubiquitous and generalistic black, yeast-like fungus that can be found in different environments (e.g. soil, water, air and limestone). It is well known as a naturally occurring epiphyte or endophyte of a wide range of plant species (e.g. apple, grape, cucumber, green beans, cabbage) without causing any symptoms of disease. A. pullulans has a high importance in biotechnology for the production of different enzymes, siderophores and pullulan. Furthermore, A. pullulans is used in biological control of plant diseases, especially storage diseases. Chronic human exposure to A. pullulans via humidifiers or air conditioners can lead to hypersensitivity pneumonitis (extrinsic allergic alveolitis) or "humidifier lung". This condition is characterized acutely by dyspnea, cough, fever, chest infiltrates, and acute inflammatory reaction. The condition can also be chronic, and lymphocyte-mediated. The chronic condition is characterized radiographically by reticulonodular infiltrates in the lung, with apical sparing. The strains causing infections in humans were reclassified to A. melanogenum. A. pullulans can be cultivated on potato dextrose agar, where it produces smooth, faint pink, yeast-like colonies covered with a slimy mass of spores.