Schizosaccharomyces lindneri sp. nov., a fission yeast occurring in honey

Two strains of fission yeast were isolated from honey. They differ from the type strain of Schizosaccharomyces octosporus by three substitutions in the D1/D2 domain of the nuclear 26S large subunit ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequence, resulting in a 99.5% identity. In the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region (consisting of ITS1, 5.8S rDNA, and ITS2), the strains differ from S. octosporus by 16 gaps and 91 substitutions, which is equivalent to an identity of 88.1%. Genome sequencing on one of the new strains revealed that the average nucleotide identity (ANI) between its genome and the reference genome of S. octosporus is 90.43% and there exist major genome rearrangements between the two genomes. Mating analysis revealed that S. octosporus and one of the new strains are completely reproductively separated. A strong prezygotic barrier exists and the few mating products consist of diploid hybrids that do not form recombinant ascospores. In the new strains, asci are either zygotic, arising from conjugation, or they develop without conjugation from asexual cells (azygotic). Compared to the currently recognized Schizosaccharomyces species, the spectrum of nutrients that are assimilated by the new strains is restricted. Of the 43 carbohydrates that were included in the physiological standard tests, only 7 were assimilated. According to the results of the genome sequence analysis, the mating trials, and the phenotypic characterization, the new species Schizosaccharomyces lindneri is described to accommodate the two strains (holotype: CBS 18203^T  and ex-type: MUCL 58363; MycoBank no.: MB 847838).