Baudoinia compniacensis
Encyclopedia
Baudoinia compniacensis or Angels' Share fungus is an ascomycete fungus found on a wide range of substrates in the vicinity of distilleries, spirits maturation facilities, and large bakeries. The fungus is a habitat coloniser with a preference for airborne alcohol. It was first investigated in 1872 when Casimir Roumeguère and Charles Durieu de Maisonneuve examined this black, sooty growth found on the walls and roof tiles of buildings near distilleries in Cognac, France at the instigation of the French pharmacist Antonin Baudoin.
, France. Baudoinia compniacensis is a cosmopolitan colonist of exposed surfaces that are subjected to wide diurnal temperature shifts, episodic high relative humidity and wetting, and ambient airborne ethanol.
B. compniacensis is not uniquely associated with spirit maturation and manufacture as one sample examined came from a commercial bakery. Ethanol
vapor appears to be important in habitat determinant and Baudoinia species may occur in association with natural fermentative processes, such as seasonal fruit drops, bogs, natural composts, etc.
It has been recorded as a well utilised food source of snails and slugs through the radula
marks left following grazing.
Description
Mycelium black, effused, velvety to crust-like. Vegetative hyphae dark brown, thick-walled, often moniliform. Distinctive conidiophores lacking. Conidiogenous cells integrated within vegetative hyphae. Conidia dry, nonseptate or uniseptate at the median, thick-walled, globose to barrel-shaped, brown to black, typically with coarse surface ornamentation, dehiscencing by schizolysis. Ramoconidia absent. Colonies on MLA slow growing, darkly pigmented. Synanamorphs absent. Teleomorph unknown.Nutrition
Baudoinia species use ethanol for their carbon nutrition, however growth rates suggest that this is not their only source of nutrition. Ethanol in vapour form also accelerates the growth of the fungus and stimulates spore germination. The ability to withstand high temperatures and therefore colonise habitats such as roofing may be explained by the observation that ethanol vapour stimulates the formation of special heat-protective proteins that prevent cells from being killed under these relatively extreme conditions.Ecology
The Angels' Share fungus is black in colour and is partly responsible for the frequently observed phenomenon of 'Warehouse Staining', reported originally from the walls of buildings near brandy maturation warehouses in CognacCognac
Cognac is a commune in the Charente department in southwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Geography:Cognac is situated on the river Charente between the towns of Angoulême and Saintes. The majority of the town has been built on the river's left bank, with the smaller right...
, France. Baudoinia compniacensis is a cosmopolitan colonist of exposed surfaces that are subjected to wide diurnal temperature shifts, episodic high relative humidity and wetting, and ambient airborne ethanol.
B. compniacensis is not uniquely associated with spirit maturation and manufacture as one sample examined came from a commercial bakery. Ethanol
Ethanol
Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug and one of the oldest recreational drugs. Best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, it is also used in thermometers, as a...
vapor appears to be important in habitat determinant and Baudoinia species may occur in association with natural fermentative processes, such as seasonal fruit drops, bogs, natural composts, etc.
It has been recorded as a well utilised food source of snails and slugs through the radula
Radula
The radula is an anatomical structure that is used by molluscs for feeding, sometimes compared rather inaccurately to a tongue. It is a minutely toothed, chitinous ribbon, which is typically used for scraping or cutting food before the food enters the esophagus...
marks left following grazing.