The genus Pestalotiopsis is grouped in the Xylariales order and comprises several known plant pathogens. The fungus is not host specific and causes rot and disease in a wide variety of plant species (29), although these isolates were all endophytic and the plants showed no pathogenic symptoms. Pestalotiopsis microspora isolates have previously been shown to have a propensity for horizontal gene transfer. In one notable case, a Pestalotiopsis microspora strain isolated as a fungal endophyte from the taxol-producing plant Taxus wallachiana had acquired the ability to synthesize taxol (27). Such a propensity for horizontal gene transfer may have contributed to the ability of a subset of these isolates to degrade polyester polyurethane as a sole carbon substrate, or it may reflect a significant level of phenotypic diversity among the genus.