Candida carvajalissp. nov., an ascomycetous yeast species from the Ecuadorian Amazon jungle

Abstract

In the course of a yeast biodiversity survey of different ecological habitats found in Ecuador, two yeast strains (CLQCA 20-011(T) and CLQCA20-014) were isolated from samples of rotten wood and fallen leaf debris collected at separate sites in the central region of the Ecuadorian Amazonia. These strains were found to represent a novel yeast species based on the sequences of their D1/D2 domain of the large-subunit (LSU) rRNA gene and their physiological characteristics. Phylogenetic analysis based on LSU D1/D2 sequences revealed this novel species to be most closely related to Candida asparagi, Candida fructus, Candida musae and two as yet undescribed Candida species, with the six yeast taxa collectively forming a distinct species group within the Clavispora clade. The species name of Candida carvajalis sp. nov. is proposed to accommodate these strains, with CLQCA 20-011(T) (NCYC 3509(T), CBS 11361(T)) designated as the type strain.

An Overview of the Yeast Biodiversity in the Galápagos Islands and Other Ecuadorian Regions

“…Astonishingly, 18 out of 46 were isolated from ancient-dormant yeast communities found in fermentation vessels and other utensils used by ancient cultures from the Andes used in their daily life. The studies of Microbial Archaeology [42] yielded other yeast species which will be taken later on in this chapter.…”

“…Nevertheless, we do have one example of what we could consider a relictual species that has collected in Galápagos from the surface of a leaf. The same yeast species was resuscitated from ancient chicha (corn beer) fermentation vessels during a Microbial Archaeology survey in Quito in 2008 [21,42]. The substrate is catalogued as an archaeological piece from 680 a.D. and the yeast species is Candida theae [29].…”

Caracterización e identificación de aislados de levaduras carotenogénicas de varias zonas naturales del Ecuador

“…Para el secuenciamiento que llevó a la identificación de especies, se amplificó el dominio D1/D2 del segmento 26S del ADNr mediante los primers NL1 (5' -GCATATCA ATAAGCGGAGGAAAAC -3') y NL4 (5' -GGTCCGT GTTTCAAGACGG -3') (14). La reacción de PCR se realizó en un volumen final de 50 µL conteniendo 10 µL de buffer 5 X GoTaq®; 1 µL mix dNTPs 10 mM; 1,5 µL de MgCl 2, 25 mM; 1 µL de primer NL1 0.1 µM; 1 µL de primer NL4 0.1 µM; 30,1 µL de agua libre de nucleasas; 0,4 µL de GoTaq® polimerasa, 5µL -1 ; y, 5 µL de ADN templado.…”

Kazachstania yasuniensis sp. nov., an ascomycetous yeast species found in mainland Ecuador and on the Galápagos

“…Since 2007, the Colección de Levaduras Quito Católica (CLQCA) has been conducting a yeast bio-prospecting programme to catalogue and characterize the indigenous yeast species present in the many differing ecological habitats found in Ecuador, both on the mainland and on the Galápagos Islands. To date, more than 3000 yeast strains have been collected and a number of novel species have been discovered and formally described, including Candida carvajalis (James et al , 2009), Saturnispora quitensis (James et al , 2011) and most recently Wickerhamomyces arborarius (James et al , 2014). In October 2013, the CLQCA carried out a preliminary study to catalogue the yeast diversity at several sites in the Yasuní National Park (Yasuní), a 9800 km 2 region of prime Amazonian rainforest habitat situated in eastern Ecuador, approximately 250 km from Quito.…”