Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania » Eastern Regional Research Center » Characterization and Interventions for Foodborne Pathogens » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #354711
Research Project: Advanced Development of Innovative Technologies and Systematic Approaches to Foodborne Hazard Detection and Characterization for Improving Food Safety

Location: Characterization and Interventions for Foodborne Pathogens

Title: A closer look at Sporidiobolales: Ubiquitous microbial community members of plant and food biospheres

Author
item URBINA, HECTOR - Purdue University
item AIME, M CATHERINE - Purdue University

Submitted to: Mycologia
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/5/2018
Publication Date: 6/4/2018
Citation: Urbina, H., Aime, M. 2018. A closer look at Sporidiobolales: Ubiquitous microbial community members of plant and food biospheres. Mycologia. 110(1):79-92.

Interpretive Summary: Microorganisms are ubiquitous in the environment and are present on the surfaces plants and foods. These organisms contribute food spoilage and some cause human disease. In this study researchers identified some of the most common of these as yeasts in a family that is broadly distributed around the world and yet contains hundreds of species that have not yet been described. This included at least 30 species of yeast that have not yet been characterized that were isolated from fresh commercial lettuce. Researchers will use these data to study and better understand the interactions between microorganisms on common crops and how these may impact human health.

Technical Abstract: Carotenoid-containing yeasts in Sporidiobolales (Microbotryomycetes, Pucciniomycotina, Basidiomycota) have been reported from contrasting ecosystems, including marine, soil, phylloplane, polar ice, and many others. Here, we present several analyses drawing on 583 new isolates collected from various substrates around the globe and publicly available sequences from numerous published environmental studies. We provide a multilocus phylogenetic reconstruction of the order, estimates for total species richness, a snapshot of global distribution patterns, and analysis of niche preferences in Sporidiobolales, emphasizing their occurrence in commercial crops and food products. We evaluated loci commonly used in fungal phylogenetics, finding that RNA polymerase II subunits 1 and 2 (RPB1, RPB2) are of little utility in this group. We have reconfirmed the monophyly of Sporidiobolales with three well-supported genera, which are, in descending order of number of species, Rhodotorula, Sporobolomyces, and Rhodosporidiobolus. From our data, we estimate ca. 260 species in Sporidiobolales, of which 42 are described, and ca. 52,000 species in Pucciniomycotina. The majority of data regarding Sporidiobolales are from North America and Europe, highlighting severe knowledge gaps for most of South and Central America and Africa.