Nucleotide composition of deoxyribonucleic acid of some species of Cryptococcus, Rhodotorula, and Sporobolomyces

The buoyant density of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from nine species and two varieties of Cryptococcus, three species and two varieties of Rhodotorula, and six species of Sporobolomyces was determined by CsCl density gradient equilibrium centrifugation. Several species were represented by two to four different strains. Expressed in moles per cent of guanine plus cytosine (GC content) the ranges were 49 to 65%, 52 to 70%, and 51 to 65% for Cryptococcus, Rhodotorula, and Sporobolomyces, respectively. For each genus, the GC content was distributed into two discrete groups with averages ranging from 52 to 54 and 60 to 66, respectively. An analysis of these results suggested that the determination of GC content of DNA had a taxonomic value for these yeast genera.