Tremellomycetes

Fungalpedia – Note 3311, Tremellomycetes

 

Tremellomycetes Doweld, Prosyllabus Tracheophytorum, Tentamen Systematis Plantarum Vascularium (Tracheophyta) (Moscow):73 (2001).

Citation when using this data: Wijayawardene NN et al. 2024 – Fungalpedia.

Index Fungorum, Faceoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1k.

Classification: Agaricomycotina, Basidiomycota, Dikarya, Fungi.

Dimorphic fungi, yeasts, hyphae and/or complex fruiting bodies. Fruiting bodies are gelatinous or absent, parenthesomes sacculate or absent, basidia septate or nonseptate (Hibbett et al. 2007).

Life modes and distribution: The members of Tremellomycetes are a nutritionally heterogeneous group comprising saprobes, human and animal parasites, and lichen-inhabiting species and distributed worldwide (Sampaio 2004; Boekhout et al. 2011; Cooper 2011; Millanes et al. 2011). Genera Cryptococcus, Naganishia, Papiliotrema, and Trichosporon have been reports as human and animal pathogens (Kurtzman et al. 2011). However, Tremella and Naematelia are saprobic taxa and have been cultivated for food (Schmidt et al. 2011; Ma et al. 2021; Kuddus and Aguilar 2022; Linnakoski et al. 2023). Some taxa have been exclusively reported in agriculture and industrial applications (Sun et al. 2020; Palmieri et al. 2021; Yan et al. 2022).

Notes: The name Tremellomycetes was circumscribed by Hibbett et al. (2007). The members of Tremellomycetes include yeasts, dimorphic taxa, and species that form complex fruiting bodies (Millanes et al. 2011). The anamorphic Tremellomycetes have been found in yeast form, including Bullera, Cryptococcus, Dioszegia and Fellomyces among others (Nakase 2000; Litvinseva et al. 2006; Boekhout et al. 2011; Kurtzman et al. 2011). Among the sexually typified taxa, the spore-producing basidia are often formed in gelatinous basidiocarps or gall deformations on other fungi (Chen et al. 2001; Sampaio 2004; Millanes et al. 2011). Phylogenetic analyses of rRNA gene (SSU, ITS, and LSU sequence data) of Hibbett et al. (1998, 2007), Matheny et al. (2006), and Millanes et al. (2011) accommodated this class in subphylum Agaricomycotina. 

He et al. (2019) provided the divergence time estimates for the various orders and families in the class, which comprises five orders, 18 families, and 54 genera. According to Wijayawardene et al. (2022a), the class comprises six orders (Chionasterales, Cystofilobasidiales, Filobasidiales, Holtermanniales, Tremellales, and Trichosporonales), 20 families and 73 genera. However, three genera, namely Heteromycophaga, Phyllopta, and Trichosporonoides are classified in Tremellomycetes genera incertae sedis. 

The members of Tremellomycetes are widely used in different applications (Table 17) while some are medicinally important taxa (Table 18; Wijayawardene NN et al. 2024

).

Type order: Tremellales Fr. [as ‘Tremellinae’], Syst. mycol. (Lundae) 1: 2 (1821).

Type family: Tremellaceae Fr. [as ‘Tremellini’], Syst. mycol. (Lundae) 1: lv (1821).

Type genus: Tremella Pers., Syn. meth. fung. (Göttingen) 2: 622 (1801).

Type species: Tremella mesenterica Retz., K. svenska Vetensk-Akad. Handl., ser. 1 30: 249 (1769).

Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Tremellomycetes.

 

 

Figure 1 – Different taxa of Basidiomycota. a Agaricomycetes (Amanita hemibapha). b Bartheletiomycetes (Bartheletia paradoxa). c Cystobasidiomycetes (Cyphobasidium), white arrow shows the fruiting bodies. d Dacrymycetes (Dacryomyces spathularia). e Exobasidiomycetes (Exobasidium ferrugineae). f Malasseziomycetes (Malassezia); g Microbotryomycetes (Microbotrium). h Physodermatomycetes (Physoderma menyanthis). i Pucciniomycetes (Puccinia). j Tremellomycetes (Tremella fusiformis). k Tritirachiomycetes (Tritirachium oryzae). l Ustilaginomycetes (Mycosystema maydis). m Wallemiomycetes (Wallemia sebi). Photo credits: Figure a: Stephen Axford, Figures B-M: iNaturalist (The photos have been used under the CC BY-NC 4.0 non-commercial use license).

 

References

Boekhout T, Fonseca A, Sampaio JP, Bandoni RJ et al. 2011 – Discussion of teleomorphic and anamorphic basidiomycetous yeasts. In: Kurtzman CP, Fell JW, Boekhout T (eds) The yeasts: A taxonomic study. Elsevier, London, pp 1339–1372.

Chen CJ, Oberwinkler F, Chen ZC. 2001 – Restudy of some type specimens of Tremella (I). Mycotaxon 77:215–224.

Cooper CR. 2011 – Yeasts pathogenic to humans. In: Kurtzman CP, Fell JW, Boekhout T (eds) The yeasts: A taxonomic study. Elsevier, London, pp 1339–1372.

He MQ, Zhao RL, Kevin D. Hyde KD, Begerow D et al. 2019 – Notes, outline and divergence times of Basidiomycota. Fungal Divers 99:105–367.

Hibbett DS, Binder M, Bischoff JF, Blackwell M et al. 2007 – A higher level phylogenetic classification of the fungi. Mycol Res 111(5):509–547.

Hibbett DS, Binder M, Bischoff JF, Blackwell M et al. 2007 – A higher level phylogenetic classification of the fungi. Mycol Res 111(5):509–547.

Hibbett DS, Donoghue MJ. 1998 – Integrating phylogenetic analysis and classification in fungi. Mycologia 90: 347–356.

Kuddus M, Aguilar CN. 2022 – Value-addition in food products and processing through enzyme technology. Elsevier Inc., California, United States.

Kurtzman CP. 2011 – Trigonopsis Schachner emend. Kurtzman & Robnett. (2007). In: Kurtzman C, Fell JW, Boekhout T (eds) The yeasts – A taxonomic study, 5th edn. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 1331–1335.

Linnakoski R, Jyske T, Eerikäinen R Veteli P, Cortina-Escribano M et al. 2023 – Brewing potential of strains of the boreal wild yeast Mrakia gelida. Front Microbiol 14:1108961.

Ma X, Yang M, He Y, Zhai C et al. 2021 – A review on the production, structure, bioactivities and applications of Tremella polysaccharides. Int J Immunopathol Pharmacol 35:1–14.

Millanes AM, Diederich P, Ekman S, Wedin M et al. 2011 – Phylogeny and character evolution in the jelly fungi (Tremellomycetes, Basidiomycota, Fungi). Mol Phylogenet Evol 61:12–28.

Nakase T. 2000 – Expanding world of ballistosporous yeasts: Distribution in the phyllosphere, systematics and phylogeny. J Gen Appl Microbiol 46:189–216.

Palmieri D, Barone G, Cigliano RA, Curtis FD et al. 2021 – Complete genome sequence of the biocontrol yeast Papiliotrema terrestris strain LS28. G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics 11:jkab332.

Sampaio JP. 2004 – Diversity, phylogeny and classification of basidiomycetous yeasts. In: Agerer R, Piepenbring M, Blanz P (eds) Frontiers in Basidiomycote Mycology. IHV-Verlag, Eching, pp 49–80.

Schmidt I, Schewe H, Gassel S, Jin C et al. 2011 – Biotechnological production of astaxanthin with Phaffia rhodozyma/Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 89:555–571.

Sun T, Wang R, Sun D, Li S et al. 2020 – High-efficiency production of Tremella aurantialba polysaccharide through basidiospore fermentation. Bioresour Technol 318:124268.

Wijayawardene NN, Hyde KD, Dai DQ, Sánchez-García M et al. 2022a – Outline of Fungi and fungus-like taxa – 2021. Mycosphere 13:53–453.

Wijayawardene NN, Hyde KD, Mikhailov KV, Péter G et al. 2024 – Classes and phyla of the kingdom Fungi. Fungal diversity, 128(1):1–165.

Yan YH, Wang MT, Chen N, Wang X et al. 2022 – Isolation, structures, bioactivities, application and future prospective for polysaccharides from Tremella aurantialba: A review. Front Immunol 13:1091210.

 

Entry by

Nalin N. Wijayawardene, Center for Yunnan Plateau Biological Resources Protection and Utilization, College of Biological Resource and Food Engineering, Qujing Normal University, Qujing, Yunnan 655011, P.R. China, Tropical Microbiology Research Foundation, 96/N/10, Meemanagoda Road, 10230 Pannipitiya, Sri Lanka, Department of Bioprocess Technology, Faculty of Technology, Rajarata University, Sri Lanka

 

Published online 2 October 2026

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