Starmerella syriaca f.a., sp. nov., an osmotolerant yeast species isolated from flowers in Syria

Abstract

Four strains of a novel asexual ascomycetous yeast species were isolated from Malva sp. flowers in Syria. Sequencing of the regions spanning the small subunit, 5.8S, and the D1/D2 domains of the large subunit ribosomal RNA genes showed that the isolates were conspecific. Comparative analysis of these sequences and the corresponding sequences of the type strains of ascomycetous yeasts revealed that the novel species is phylogenetically related to members of the Starmerella clade. Its closest relative is Candida vaccinii. For the new species the name Starmerella syriaca is proposed. Its strains are osmotolerant and produce pseudohypha-like structures capable of penetrating agar media. The type strain is 2-1362(T) (=CBS 13909(T) = NCAIM Y.02138(T) = CCY 090-003-001(T)). The GenBank accession numbers for its nucleotide sequences are: JX515986 (D1/D2 LSU), JX515987 (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2) and JX515988 (SSU). Mycobank: MB 810090.

Candida metrosideri pro tempore sp. nov. and Candida ohialehuae pro tempore sp. nov., two antifungal-resistant yeasts associated with Metrosideros polymorpha flowers in Hawaii

“…Flowers have been increasingly recognized as unexplored reservoirs of yeast diversity due to the production of nutrient-rich exudates, such as floral nectar or stigmatic secretions, in which microbes can thrive [1][2][3]. Study of yeast diversity in flowers has led during the last decade to the discovery of more than 50 new species of ascomycetes yeasts, dispersed across different continents [2,[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. Additionally, the taxonomic status of several flower-inhabiting yeast species still remains unclear because their phylogenetic affiliation is not yet satisfactorily resolved by available multilocus sequences, and/or they seem unable to produce sexual structures under standard laboratory conditions, making accurate classification challenging.…”

Towards a better understanding of the role of nectar-inhabiting yeasts in plant–animal interactions

“…Flowers and their animal visitors are being increasingly recognized as a rich source of undescribed fungal species [19,29,43]. For example, the study of these habitats has led to the discovery of more than 50 new yeast species during the last decade, most of which were classified within the ascomycetous genera Metschnikowia, Wickerhamiella, Starmerella and Kodamaea [43,[51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60]. In contrast, descriptions of new species of mycelial fungi obtained from flowers are much scarcer (but see, for example, [61]).…”

“…An important limitation of some descriptions of new species of flower-inhabiting fungi is that isolates were obtained by enrichment culture or maceration of whole flowers or fragments of them (e.g. [58,60,62]), without further information about the specific microhabitats hosting the new species. Furthermore, evaluating the biogeographic distribution of floral-inhabiting fungi remains challenging because of the limited number of studies performed so far in some locations and, in particular, in tropical regions where most angiosperm's diversity is distributed [29,43].…”

Starmerella orientalis f.a., sp. nov., an ascomycetous yeast species isolated from flowers

“…nov., an ascomycetous yeast species isolated from flowers Flowers are common habitats for yeasts, and most yeast species isolated from flowers are nectar-inhabiting yeasts (e.g. Brysch-Herzberg, 2004;Morais et al, 2006;Herrera et al, 2008Herrera et al, , 2013Starmer & Lachance, 2011;Pozo et al, 2011;Belisle et al, 2014;Sipiczki, 2015). These yeast communities are generally dominated by ascomycetous species, and insects are thought to be the major vectors for the dispersal of those yeasts (Babjeva & Chernov, 1995; Fonseca & Inácio, 2006;Basukriadi et al, 2010;Pozo et al, 2011).…”

“…Species from the clades Metschnikowia, Kodamaea, Wickerhamiella and Starmerella are the most frequent yeasts isolated from the insect-visited flowers (Lachance et al, 2001b). The Starmerella clade from the order Saccharomycetales includes more than 30 described species (Lachance et al, 2011a;Duarte et al, 2012;Kurtzman, 2012;Limtong et al, 2012;Li et al, 2013; Daniel et al, 2013; Melo et al, 2014;Sipiczki, 2010Sipiczki, , 2013Sipiczki, , 2015, and many have been isolated from insects (mainly bees and beetles), flowers, and various substrates with high sugar concentrations Lachance et al, 2011a). In this work, we report on the taxonomic examination of four strains isolated from flowers in Iran and China.…”