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Xerophiles

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Fungi and Food Spoilage

Abstract

Xerophilic fungi are distinguished by their ability to grow under conditions of reduced water activity, i.e. to complete their life cycles on substrates that have been dried or concentrated, in the presence of high levels of soluble solids such as salts or sugars. Early usage (Scott 1957) confined the word “xerophile” to filamentous fungi and used the term “osmophile” for yeasts; the term “halophile” was used rather indiscriminately for moulds, yeasts and bacteria with the ability to grow on concentrated salt solutions. Pitt (1975) clarified the situation. He considered that osmophile was an inappropriate term, because high osmotic pressures were not involved in the growth of these fungi, as they balance the outside environment with internal solutes, maintaining just sufficient osmotic pressure to enable growth. The crucial point was that they preferred to grow at reduced water activities. In the absence of a suitable term for “lovers of low water activity”, xerophile seemed the most suitable appellation, for both moulds and yeasts. This chapter describes the characteristics of species fitting the definition of xerophile used in this work.

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  1. Microbial Screening Technologies, Smithfield, NSW, Australia

    John I. Pitt

  2. CSIRO Agriculture and Food, North Ryde, NSW, Australia

    Ailsa D. Hocking

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Pitt, J.I., Hocking, A.D. (2022). Xerophiles. In: Fungi and Food Spoilage. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85640-3_9

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