Wallemiomycetes

The Wallemiomycetes are a class of fungi in the division Basidiomycota. It consists of the single order Wallemiales, containing the single family Wallemiaceae, which in turn contains the single genus Wallemia. The phylogenetic origin of the lineage was placed to various parts of Basidiomycota, but according to the analysis of a larger dataset it is a sister group of Agaricomycotina. The genus contains species of xerophilic molds that are found worldwide. The seven described species (W. sebi, W. ichthyophaga, W. muriae, W. mellicola, W. canadensis, W. tropicalis, and W. hederae) are distinguished by conidial size, xerotolerance, halotolerance, chaotolerance, growth temperature regimes, extracellular enzyme activity profiles, and secondary metabolite patterns. They are typically isolated from low-moisture foods (such as cakes, bread, sugar, peanuts, dried fish), indoor air dust, salterns and soil. W. sebi is thought to be one of the causes of the hypersensitivity pneumonitis known as the......read more on Wikipedia.