DESCRIPTIONS OF MEDICAL FUNGI

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Descriptions of Medical Fungi
Rhinocladiella Nannfeldt
Rhinocladiella contains six to eight species, with five species of medical interest;
R. aquaspersa, R. atrovirens, R. basitona, R. mackenziei (formerly Ramichloridium
mackenziei) and R. similis. R. mackenziei is a frequently fatal neurotropic organism
and appears to be restricted to individuals residing in, or immigrating from, Middle
Eastern countries (Revankar and Sutton 2010).
RG-1 organism.
Rhinocladiella atrovirens Nannfeldt
Morphological Description: Colonies are restricted, velvety or lanose, olivaceous,
often slightly mucoid at the centre; reverse dark olivaceous green to blackish.
Conidiophores are short, brown, thick-walled. Conidiogenous cells are cylindrical,
intercalary or free, 9-19 x 1.6-2.2 µm; denticulate rachis up to 15 µm long, with
crowded, flat or butt-shaped, unpigmented conidial denticles. Conidia are hyaline, thinand
smooth-walled, short-cylindrical, with truncate basal scars, 3.7-5.5 x 1.2-1.8 µm.
Budding cells, if present, are hyaline, thin-walled, broadly ellipsoidal, 3.0-4.3 x 1.7-2.5
µm. Germinating cells are inflated, spherical to subspherical, 4.5-6.0 µm. An annellidic
Exophiala synanamorph may be present.
Molecular Identification: ITS sequencing is recommended for accurate species
identification (Taj-Aldeen et al. 2010).
References: de Hoog (1977, 1983), Schell et al. (1983), de Hoog et al. (2000, 2015).
a
c
10 µm 10 µm b b 10 µm
Rhinocladiella atrovirens (a) culture, (b) conidiophores showing a terminal
denticulate rachis with conidia, and (c) budding yeast cells.