The genus pseudozyma The species of the genus Pseudozyma belong to ustilaginales based on the morphological studies 1 and molecular characterization. 2,3 There are 11 species reported so far from this genus that are distinguished by analysing the sequences of combined ITS and D1/D2 regions. Boekhout & Fell 4 reported seven species and Sugita et al. 5 described two species isolated from blood of the patients. Two more species of Pseudozyma were isolated from wilting leaves of different plants that are named as Pseudozyma hubeiensis and Psedozyma shanxiensis. 6 These species are distinguished from other reported species by morphological studies and physiological characterization. The novelty of these two species was also confirmed by molecular taxonomic analysis based on sequencing of 26S rRNA gene, D1/ D2 domain and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions (6). All 11 species of Pseudozyma were further studied for assimilation reactions which differentiated all the species of the genus Pseudozyma from one another. The ability to grow at 40°C and no assimilation of erythritol are the characteristics that differentiate P. shanxiensis from all other species of Pseudozyma. However, P. hubeiensis does not assimilate inositol and this characteristic differentiates P. hubeiensis from all other species. 6 P. hubeiensis was first isolated from decaying sandal wood in our laboratory 7 and then it was sent for identification to National Collection of Yeast Cultures (NCYC) in 2008. The sequencing of 26 rDNA D1/D2 domain and standard taxonomic tests confirmed that it is a novel strain of P. hubeiensis. It was then deposited in NCIM Resource Center, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, with an accession number NCIM 3574. Among all species of Pseudozyma, Pseudzyma antarctica (Formally known as Candida antarctica) has been a most studied. It is well known producer of glycolipid, manosylerythritol (MEL) from vegetable oil including soybean oil, alkanes, glycerol, glucose and xylose 8 and also from cellulosic materials. 9 MELs show excellent surface active properties in addition to versatile biochemical actions. In addition to its bio-surfactant property, MEL possesses antitumor and cell differentiation induction activities. 10 The other species such as P. aphidis, P. rugulosa, P. fusiformata are also known to produce MEL. 11 Extracellular esterases 12 and biodegradable plastic degrading enzymes 13 have been reported from P. antarctica. The plastic degrading enzyme named PaE produced by P. antarctica degrades biodegradable plastic films composed of poly (butylele succinate) (PBS), poly (butylene succinate-co-adipate) (PBSA) and poly (lactic acid) (PLA). Xylose induced xylanases were reported from P. antarctica and the 33 kDa purified protein was found to produce xylose from xylan indicating that they are endo-xylanases. 14 Genome and transcriptome analysis of P. antarctica was recently reported. 15 The another novel yeast species, P. brasiliensis produced the xylan induced secretome containing endo-xylanase and β-xylosidase. 16