First report of Byssochlamys spectabilis as a teleomorph of Paecilomyces variotii from Iran

During 2009–10, cheese samples were collected from shops and cheese factories in fars and khuzestan provinces. isolates were recovered from cheese using malt extract agar (mea) and potato dextrose agar (pda). teleomorphic characteristics such as morphology of ascocarps, asci, ascospores and anamorphic characteristics such as conidiophores, phialides, conidia and chlamydospores were investigated. based on the above criteria byssochlamys spectabilis, the teleomorph of paecilomyces varioii, was identified. byssochlamys species produce ascospores which are heat resistant, and survive considerable periods of heat above 85° c (beuchat rice 1979, splittstoesser 1987). in addition to its heat resistance, the fungus can grow under very low oxygen tensions (taniwaki 1995) and can form pectinolytic enzymes. the combination of these three physiological characteristics makes byssochlamys species very important spoilage fungi in pasteurised and canned fruit. it is the first report of this teleomorph from iran.