''Candida catenulata'' is a yeast-form fungus in the phylum Ascomycota. It is distributed globally and commonly found on the skin of humans and animals, in soil, and in dairy products.

Taxonomy

''C. catenulata'' is a species originally assigned to the genus '' Candida''. To be a species in the genus ''Candida'' implies a close relatedness to the type species ''Candida tropicalis'', but it was found through tRNA, rRNA, and other phylogenetic analysis that ''C. catenulata'' is not closely related to ''C. tropicalis''. As such, ''C. catenulata'' has been reclassified into a new genus, ''Diutina'', as ''Diutina catenulata''. This change also affected the family classification as ''Diutina'' is in the family Debaryomycetaceae/Metschnikowiaceae while the original genus ''Candida'' belongs to the family Saccaromycetaceae. Its membership to phylum

Ascomycota Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species. The de ...

, class

Saccharomycetes Saccharomycetes belongs to the Ascomycota division of the kingdom Fungi. It is the only class in the subdivision Saccharomycotina, the budding yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus ...

, and order Saccharomycetales have remained unchanged.

Morphology

''C. catenulata'' is capable of living both as a

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to consti ...

or as a pseudomycelium composed of pseudohyphae and capsule-shaped cells with dimensions of 1-2 micrometers by 5-7 micrometers.

Ecology

''Candida catenulata'' is a skin and gut microbiome component of humans and animals, soil microbiome fungi, dairy product contaminant, and occasional opportunistic

fungal pathogen Pathogenic fungi are fungi that cause disease in humans or other organisms. Approximately 300 fungi are known to be pathogenic to humans. Markedly more fungi are known to be pathogenic to plant life than those of the animal kingdom. The study of fu ...

. In the soil ''C. catenulata'' is most strongly associated with the necrobiome soil community. In soils surrounding cadavers, ''C. catenulat''a populations have been observed in experiments to grow to compose a significant portion of these soil communities over time. In cases of ''C. catenulata'' operating as an opportunistic pathogen it is most common that infections manifest as some type of superficial skin infection. In a rare case a 42-year-old woman in Strasbourg, France was found to be invasively infected by ''Candida catenulata'' after blood cultures were prepared upon her re-admittance to a hospital post cancer treatment. This is the only recorded case of invasive infection by ''C. catenulata''.

Bioremediation

In a lab setting when supplied with food waste and composting, diesel fuel-inoculated colonies of ''C. catenulata'' were observed to degrade approximately 80% of petroleum hydrocarbons present in their environment. In un-inoculated colonies 48% hydrocarbon degradation was observed. Both of these results indicate ''C. catenulata'' is a promising species for use in

bioremediation Bioremediation broadly refers to any process wherein a biological system (typically bacteria, microalgae, fungi, and plants), living or dead, is employed for removing environmental pollutants from air, water, soil, flue gasses, industrial effluent ...

efforts of oil contaminated environments.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10441488 catenulata Yeasts