Kingdom Fungi Class Tremellomycetes Family Tremellaceae Rank Species | Phylum Basidiomycota Order Tremellales Genus Cryptococcus | |
People also search for Cryptococcus skinneri | ||
Cryptococcus aquaticus is a species of Cryptococcus that is found in extreme climates, and has an optimal growth temperature of 9 °C, but it can grow at temperatures as low as 2 °C. When plated on agar it produces smooth, butyrous colonies with a cream coloration. When grown in liquid media it takes approximately 76 hours to reach stationary phase and is very sensitive to decreases in pH. This species typically has an oval or cylindrical shape, but it can be dumb-bell shaped at the microscopic level. C. aquaticus reproduces through bipolar mypodial budding. This species is somewhat unusual in the Cryptococcus family in that it can weakly ferment D-glucose, D-galactose, maltose and melezitose. This species is DBB+. C. aquaticus has been studied because of its ability to produce pecticase. It produces polycalacturonase, but not isoenzymes of polygalacturonase, and it has increased activity in the presence of glucose. This species of Cryptococcus has an interested trait in that it produces mycocins, which are proteinacous toxins that either kill or inhibit the ability of fungi that are in the same taxonomic rank or in a related taxonomic rank. The mycocin that C. aquaticus produces was only able to kill Cystofilobasidiales clade basidiomycetes, and was unable to kill yests in any phyla outside of basidiomycetes.