Interspecific protoplast Fusion of Schwanniomyces yeasts

Abstract

SUMMARYInterspecific protoplast fusion of multiple auxotrophic mutants of Schwannic~ces castellii and Schwannicmyces alluvius resulted in fusion products displaying good stability and increased ploidy as a consequence of increased DNA content and cell-volume.Following mitotic segregation analysis, recombinants were observed suggesting that protoplast fusion resulted in nuclear fusion.Attempts to isolate NTG -induced derepressed mutants of one fusion product were successful, however such mutants were similar in cell-size and amylolytic activities to the auxotrophic strains from which they were initially derived.