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Title: CANDIDA TARTARIVORANS SP. NOV., AN ANAMORPHIC ASCOMYCETOUS YEAST WITH THE CAPACITY TO DEGRADE L(+)- AND MESO-TARTIC ACID

Author
item FONSECA, ALVARO - NEW UNIVERSITY OF LISBON
item FELL, JACK - UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI, FL
item Kurtzman, Cletus
item SPENCER-MARTINS, ISABEL - NEW UNIVERSITY OF LISBON

Submitted to: International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/1/2000
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: This report describes a new yeast that was isolated from wine pressing wastes in Portugal. The yeast was recognized as new because of its unique gene sequences that were compared with an all-species gene sequence database developed at NCAUR. This study further demonstrates that the only accurate method for identification of microorganisms is to determine the sequence (chemical structure) of species-diagnostic genes. The new species, Candida tartarivorans, can grow on a relatively large number of chemical compounds and, therefore, may be of value to biotechnology.

Technical Abstract: An undescribed anamorphic yeast species of ascomycetous affinity, for which the name Candida tartarivorans is proposed, was isolated from dried wine lees in Portugal using a selective medium with L(+)-tartic acid as the sole source of carbon and energy. The single isolate (IGC 4854) showed the following characteristics: sympodial holoblastic conidiogenesis, absence of asci with ascospores, a negative color reaction with Diazonium Blue B (DBB), production of elaborate pseudomycelium, and ability to grow with inositol as sole source of carbon. Analysis of the physiological data pointed to a close relationship with other inositol- assimilating taxa, namely the genera Arxula, Stephanoascus, Sympodiomyces, Zygoascus, and selected Candida species. The comparative analysis of the D1/D2 variable region of the 26S rDNA of all available sequences for ascomycetous yeasts showed that strain IGC 4854 did not match with any other species in the database. The closest relative was Candida auringiensis Santa Maria but the two species differed in 24 nucleotide positions. A description of the new species is given.