Cryptococcus bromeliarum sp. nov., an orange-coloured basidiomycetous yeast isolated from bromeliads in Brazil.
During a survey of yeasts associated with the phylloplane of several bromeliad species in Itapuã Park in southern Brazil, we isolated four orange-coloured strains which were found to represent a novel anamorphic tremellaceous (Tremellales, Agaricomycotina, Basidiomycota) yeast species, Cryptococcus bromeliarum sp. nov. (type strain BI20(T) =CBS 10424(T) =NRRL Y-48112(T)). PCR-fingerprinting profiles of the four strains with primers M13 and (GTG)(5) were almost identical, which suggested conspecificity among the isolates. On the basis of D1/D2 26S rDNA sequence analysis, C. bromeliarum is phylogenetically closely related to other orange-coloured Cryptococcus species, namely Cryptococcus armeniacus, C. amylolyticus, C. tibetensis and C. cistialbidi, but differed from these species by at least six nucleotide substitutions and was thus considered a separate species. Physiological differences from C. armeniacus, C. amylolyticus and C. cistialbidi included the inability of C. bromeliarum to assimilate citrate and to form starch-like compounds. Differentiation from C. tibetensis can be achieved by the ability of the latter to assimilate ethylamine.
Landell
Melissa Fontes
MF
Departamento de Microbiologia, ICBS, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre (RS), Brazil.
Inácio
João
J
Fonseca
Alvaro
A
Vainstein
Marilene H
MH
Valente
Patricia
P