Isolation and characterization of three unrecorded yeast species in the order Tremellales from soil, wildflowers, and strawberries in Korea

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to isolate and identify wild yeasts from soil in Busan, wildflowers in Okcheon-gun, and strawberries in Jeju, Republic of Korea. Among the isolated strains, three were unrecorded in the Republic of Korea. To identify wild yeast strains, pairwise sequence comparisons of D1/D2 region of the 26S rRNA gene sequence were done using Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST). The cell morphologies were observed by phase contrast microscope and assimilation test are done using API 20C AUX kit. All strains were assigned to the phylum Basidiomycota. The two unrecorded yeast strains, BS-6 and PFL-3, belong to the genus Hannaella (family Bulleribasidiaceae, order Tremellales, class Tremellomycetes). Strain PST-43 belongs to the genus Papiliotrema (family Rhynchogastremataceae, order Tremellales, class Tremellomycetes). All three strains had oval shaped and polar budding cells. This research showed the morphological and biochemical properties of the three unreported yeast species in Korea.