page_title: Filobasidiella
section_title: Habitat, distribution and species
hierarchical_section_title: Filobasidiella / Habitat, distribution and species
caption_attribution_description: English: This photomicrograph depicts Cryptococcus neoformans using a light India ink staining preparation. Life-threatening infections caused by the encapsulated fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans have been increasing steadily over the past 10 years because of the onset of AIDS, and the expanded use of immunosuppressive drugs. Русский: Cryptococcus neoformans под микроскопом.
context_page_description: Filobasidiella is a genus of fungi in the family Tremellaceae. Species are parasitic on other fungi and do not produce distinct basidiocarps. The genus is the teleomorphic state of the yeast genus Cryptococcus, some species of which are human pathogens.
context_section_description: Filobasidiella neoformans and F. bacillispora are known only from laboratory cultures of their respective yeast states (Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii). The presence of haustorial cells on their hyphae indicate that they are (or were) parasites of other fungi, but their original host species are unknown. Both yeasts are human pathogens, responsible for cryptococcosis, and are now cosmopolitan in distribution.
  Filobasidiella depauperata (synonym F. arachnophila) is parasitic on Lecanicillium lecanii, an entomopathogenic fungus, and is known from Sri Lanka, England, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Canada. It is not known to produce a yeast state. Filobasidiella lutea is parasitic on Granulobasidium vellereum, a corticioid fungus, and is known from England and Italy. It too is not known to produce a yeast state. DNA sequencing suggests all four species are congeneric. A fifth species, Filobasidiella xianghuijun, has been reported from China in association with Tremella fuciformis, but its status is uncertain.
caption: Cryptococcus neoformans, the pathogenic yeast state of Filobasidiella neoformans
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