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Monday, December 17, 2012

Chaetomium spp.

The ascomycete fungi, Chaetomium spp. is commonly found growing on sheetrock and processed wood building materials.  The organism grows at a moderate rate on the culture.

The spores are readily identified in an Air-O-Cell cassette air sample with the characteristic lemon drop shaped spores.  On sheetock, Chaetomium spp. forms visible dark spots on the material.  The hard perithecia containing the spores will crack a glass cover slip. 

The organism grows best on MEA and PDA and less well on DG-18 due to the lower moisture content. 

Chaetomium spp. spores - line drawing
 
Chaetomium spp. at 100x the perithecia - line drawing
Chaetomium spp. spores - approximately 10 microns in length 400x  - N. Carlson
Chaetomium spp. perithecia 100x  N.Carlson
Chaetomium spp. growth on sheet rock no magnification -  N. Carlson
 
Chaetomium spp. growth in culture- N. Carlson

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