| Baudoinia compniacensis | |
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| Baudoinia compniacensis on Acer pseudoplatanus in Beith, North Ayrshire, Scotland | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Phylum: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Dothideomycetes |
| Subclass: | Dothideomycetidae |
| Order: | Capnodiales |
| Genus: | Baudoinia |
| Species: | B. compniacensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Baudoinia compniacensis (Richon) J.A. Scott & Unter. |
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| Synonyms | |
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Torula compniacensis Richon. 1881 |
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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.[1] 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.[1]
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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.[1]
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.[2]
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 Cognac, 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.[2]
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.[1]
It has been recorded as a well utilised food source of snails and slugs through the radula marks left following grazing.[1]
Apart from the United Kingdom, B. compniacensis has been widely recorded in Asia, Europe and the Americas.[1]
Although the fungus forms a coating layer on tree bark, this slow growing species does not seem to harm the plants or significantly reduce their growth rates.
The most closely related ascommycetes to Baudoinia compniacensis appear to be members of the genera Friedmanniomyces and Trimmatostroma. Friedmanniomyces species are rock-inhabiting species known only from the Antarctic.[1] This fits in well with the observed fact that the species favours surfaces that are subjected to great environmental exposure, as in roofing materials that experience extreme diurnal fluctuations in ambient conditions.[1]
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