A new yeast species, Kazachstania wufongensis, is proposed in this paper based on six strains isolated from soil in Taiwan. The species may produce one to four ellipsoidal ascospores in each ascus, directly transformed from diploid cells. Genus assignment and distinction of the species from other recognized species of Kazachstania is based on morphological and physiological characteristics, and on phylogenetic analysis of nucleotide sequences of the D1/D2 domains of the large subunit (LSU) rRNA gene. Sequence analysis of the D1/D2 domains of the LSU rRNA gene reveals that K. wufongensis is a member of the Kazachstania exigua complex, and its phylogenetically closest relatives are K. exigua, K. barnettii, K. bulderi, and K. turicensis. The species can be further differentiated from the other phylogenetically related species based on internal transcribed spacer sequence and electrophoretic karyotype. Therefore, the new species Kazachstania wufongensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of this new species, which was isolated from forest soil in Wufong, Hsinchu, Taiwan, is FN21S03(T) (=CBS 10886(T) = BCRC 23138(T)).

No abstract

During surveys on yeast diversity in forest soils from Taiwan and Thailand, ten yeast strains isolated from different samples were found to have similar molecular and physiological characteristics. Sequence analysis of small subunit (SSU) rDNA, the D1/D2 domain of large subunit (LSU) rDNA and internal transcribed spacer (ITS)-5.8S rDNA demonstrated that these strains were closely related to Scheffersomyces spartinae. The novel strains could be differentiated from S. spartinae by a 0.9 % sequence divergence (5 substitutions, 0 gaps) in the D1/D2 domain of LSU rDNA, a 1.5 % divergence (8 substitutions, 0 gaps) in the ITS-5.8S rDNA and a 0.7 % divergence (12 substitutions, 2 gaps) in the SSU rDNA. The novel strains also showed specific patterns of electrophoretic karyotypes that differed from that of S. spartinae. Therefore, a novel yeast species, Candida gosingica sp. nov., is proposed to accommodate these strains. The type strain SJ7S11 T (5BCRC 23194 T 5CBS 11433 T ) was assigned and deposited in the