title: The assessment of epiphytic yeast diversity in sugarcane phyllosphere in Thailand by culture-independent method.
abstract: The diversity of epiphytic yeasts from sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum Linn.) phyllospheres in Thailand was investigated by culture-independent method based on the analysis of the D1/D2 domains of the large subunit rRNA gene sequences. Forty-five samples of sugarcane leaf were collected randomly from ten provinces in Thailand. A total of 1342 clones were obtained from 45 clone libraries. 426 clones (31.7 %) were closely related to yeast strains in the GenBank database, and they were clustered into 31 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) with a similarity threshold of 99 %. All OTU sequences were classified in phylum Basidiomycota which were closely related to 11 yeast species in seven genera including Cryptococcus flavus, Hannaella coprosmaensis, Rhodotorula taiwanensis, Jaminaea angkoreiensis, Malassezia restricta, Pseudozyma antarctica, Pseudozyma aphidis, Pseudozyma hubeiensis, Pseudozyma prolifica, Pseudozyma shanxiensis, and Sporobolomyces vermiculatus. The most predominant yeasts detected belonged to Ustilaginales with 89.4 % relative frequency and the prevalent yeast genus was Pseudozyma. However, the majority were unable to be identified as known yeast species and these sequences may represent the sequences of new yeast taxa. In addition, The OTU that closely related to P. prolifica was commonly detected in sugarcane phyllosphere.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Technology, Silpakorn University, Sanamchandra Palace Campus, Nakhon Pathom 73000, Thailand.
authors.forename: Rujikan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nasanit
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Technology, Silpakorn University, Sanamchandra Palace Campus, Nakhon Pathom 73000, Thailand.
authors.forename: Apirat
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tangwong-O-Thai
authors.affiliation: Central Laboratory and Greenhouse Complex, Faculty of Agriculture at Kamphaeng Sean, Kasetsart University, Kamphaeng Sean Campus, Nakhon Pathom 73140, Thailand.
authors.forename: Manee
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tantirungkij
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Jatujak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand; Center for Advanced Studies in Tropical Natural Resources, National Research University-Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand. Electronic address: fscistl@ku.ac.th.
authors.forename: Savitree
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Limtong
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000254:growth & development / Q000382:microbiology*; D031786:Saccharum / Q000254:growth & development / Q000382:microbiology*; D013785:Thailand; D015003:Yeasts / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer
keywords: D1/D2 domains; PCR; Pseudozyma; Restriction analyses; Yeast ecology