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Isolation of Culturable Yeasts and Molds from Soils to Investigate Fungal Population Structure
Published on: May 27, 2022
Yeast diversity in hypersaline habitats
L Butinar1, S Santos, I Spencer-Martins
1Laboratory of Biotechnology, National Institute of Chemistry, Hajdrihova 19, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Abstract:
Thus far it has been considered that hypersaline natural brines which are subjected to extreme solar heating, do not contain non-melanized yeast populations. Nevertheless we have isolated yeasts in eight different salterns worldwide, as well as from the Dead Sea, Enriquillo Lake (Dominican Republic) and the Great Salt Lake (Utah). Among the isolates obtained from hypersaline waters, Pichia guilliermondii, Debaryomyces hansenii, Yarrowia lipolytica and Candida parapsilosis are known contaminants of low water activity food, whereas Rhodosporidium sphaerocarpum, R. babjevae, Rhodotorula laryngis, Trichosporon mucoides, and a new species resembling C. glabrata were not known for their halotolerance and were identified for the first time in hypersaline habitats. Moreover, the ascomycetous yeast Metschnikowia bicuspidata, known to be a parasite of the brine shrimp, was isolated as a free-living form from the Great Salt Lake brine. In water rich in magnesium chloride (bitterns) from the La Trinitat salterns (Spain), two new species provisionally named C. atmosphaerica - like and P. philogaea - like were discovered.
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