Fungi in the order Chaetothyriales are renowned for their ability to cause human infections. Nevertheless, they are not regarded as primary pathogens, but rather as opportunists with a natural habitat in the environment. Extremotolerance is a major trend in the order, but quite different from black yeasts in Capnodiales which focus on endurance, an important additional parameter is advancing toxin management. In the ancestral ecology of rock colonization, the association with metabolite-producing lichens is significant. Ant-association, dealing with pheromones and repellents, is another mainstay in the order. The phylogenetically derived family, Herpotrichiellaceae, shows dual ecology in monoaromatic hydrocarbon assimilation and the ability to cause disease in humans and cold-blooded vertebrates. In this study, data on ecology, phylogeny, and genomics were collected and analyzed in order to support this hypothesis on the evolutionary route of the species of Chaetothyriales. Comparing the ribosomal tree with that of enzymes involved in toluene degradation, a significant expansion of cytochromes is observed and the toluene catabolism is found to be complete in some of the Herpotrichiellaceae. This might enhance human systemic infection. However, since most species have to be traumatically inoculated in order to cause disease, their invasive potential is categorized as opportunism. Only in chromoblastomycosis, true pathogenicity might be surmised. The criterion would be the possible escape of agents of vertebrate disease from the host, enabling dispersal of adapted genotypes to subsequent generations.

毛藻目真菌因其引起人类感染的能力而闻名。然而，它们并不被视为主要病原体，而是在环境中具有自然栖息地的机会主义者。极限耐受性是该目中的一个主要趋势，但与Capnodiales中注重耐力的黑酵母截然不同，一个重要的附加参数是推进毒素管理。在岩石殖民的祖先生态中，与产生代谢物的地衣的关联是重要的。处理信息素和驱虫剂的蚂蚁协会是该目中的另一个支柱。系统发育衍生的Herpotrichiellaceae科显示出单芳烃同化的双重生态性以及在人类和冷血脊椎动物中引起疾病​​的能力。在这项研究中，收集并分析了生态学、系统发育和基因组学的数据，以支持毛藻目物种进化路线的假设。将核糖体树与参与甲苯降解的酶的核糖体树进行比较，观察到细胞色素的显着扩增，并且发现在一些Herpotrichiellaceae 中甲苯分解代谢是完全的。这可能会增强人类全身感染。然而，由于大多数物种必须通过创伤性接种才能引起疾病，因此它们的入侵潜力被归类为机会主义。只有在着色芽生菌病中，才可以推测出真正的致病性。标准是脊椎动物疾病病原体可能从宿主中逃脱，从而使适应的基因型能够传播到后代。