Paecilomyces variotii strain CBS 101075 growing on potato dextrose agar. The yellow-brown color is due to the abundant production of asexual spores. Image provided by Alexander Idnurm.

Paecilomyces variotii (previous teleomorph name Byssochlamys spectabilis) has been isolated from a variety of sources including spoiled food, cellulose-based substrates and occasionally clinical samples. This species is of importance because it is tolerant of high temperatures, growing at up to 55 °C and surviving brief treatments of up to 100 °C. Understanding the basis of this heat tolerance will allow comparisons to other thermophilic fungal species. P. variotii is a promising source of industrially-useful thermostable enzymes, including amylases and tannases, and is able to convert lignocellulosic biomass into ethanol. P. variotii is a member of the family Thermoascaceae (Eurotiales), a family for which no high quality annotated genome sequence is currently available. The sequenced isolate (CBS 101075) is from the type for the teleomorph of P. variotii, as described by Udagawa and Suzuki.

Reference:

Udagawa SI, Suzuki S (1994) Talaromyces spectabilis, a new species of food-borne ascomycetes. Mycotaxon 50, 81-88.