No abstract

The environmental isolation of opportunistic pathogenic black yeasts, which are responsible for a wide spectrum of human infections, is essential to understanding the ecology of clinical fungi. Extreme outdoor environments polluted with aromatic hydrocarbons support the growth of black yeasts in unlikely places, such as railway sleepers. However, there are limited data concerning the diversity of these fungi growing on polluted railway sleepers. In this investigation, we examined 845 railway sleeper samples, obtained from 11 Turkish cities representing altitudes from 25 to 1,893 m, and inoculated the samples onto mycological media for the isolation of black yeasts. Ninety-four samples (11.1 %) yielded positive results for black yeast, with creosoted oak sleepers having a significantly higher number of isolates than concrete sleepers (p < 0.05). Identification based on the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) internal transcribed spacer region revealed the highest prevalence of Exophiala phaeomuriformis, followed by Exophiala dermatitidis, Exophiala heteromorpha, Exophiala xenobiotica, and Exophiala crusticola. This study revealed that railway sleepers harboring black yeasts were predominantly (>75 %) populated with thermophilic species. We observed that altitude might have a significant effect on species diversity. Briefly, E. phaeomuriformis exhibited growth over a wide altitude range, from 30 to 1,893 m. In contrast, E. dermatitidis had a remarkable aversion to low altitudes and exhibited maximum growth at 1,285 m. In conclusion, we speculate that one can predict what species will be found on railway sleepers and their probability and that species diversity primarily depends on sleeper type and altitude height. We believe that this study can contribute new insights into the ecology of black yeasts on railway sleepers and the railway factors that influence their diversity.

The black yeast genus Exophiala is known to cause a wide variety of diseases in severely ill individuals but can also affect immunocompetent individuals. Virulence markers and other physiological parameters were tested in eight clinical and 218 environmental strains, with a specific focus on human-dominated habitats for the latter. Urease and catalase were consistently present in all samples; four strains expressed proteinase and three strains expressed DNase, whereas none of the strains showed phospholipase, haemolysis, or co-haemolysis activities. Biofilm formation was identified in 30 (13.8%) of the environmental isolates, particularly in strains from dishwashers, and was noted in only two (25%) of the clinical strains. These results indicate that virulence factors are inconsistently present in the investigated Exophiala species, suggesting opportunism rather than pathogenicity.