Use of a new medium - tobacco agar, for pigment production of Cryptococcus neoformans.

Cryptococcus neoformans produces brown colonies on Niger seed (Guizotia abyssinica) agar. Media containing caffeic acid, L-dopa and other diphenolic compounds, have been used for the same purpose. The present report describes a new medium containing tobacco which supports growth of C.neoformans and allows its easy differentiation by formation of brown coloured colonies.