Phylogenetic tree showing Metschnikowia rancensis CR1 and other
closely related species in MycoCosm.
Metschnikowia rancensis (Saccahromycetales:
Metschnikowiaceae) is a haploid ascomycete yeast with a genome size
of ~40 Mb. M. rancensis is a cosmopolitan yeast species
that inhabits floral nectar (1). A strong competitor in nectar,
M. rancensis can tolerate harsh nectar environment
composed of low nitrogen and high sugar (2,3).
The sequenced strain CR1 of M. rancensis was isolated
from the nectar of sticky monkeyflower (Diplacus
aurantiacus) in Northern California and has been employed in a
number of recent studies exploring the mechanistic basis of
community assembly in floral nectar (4-7).
References:
- Belisle M, Peay K G, & Fukami T (2012). Flowers as islands: spatial distribution of nectar-inhabiting microfungi among plants of Mimulus aurantiacus, a hummingbird-pollinated shrub. Microbial ecology, 63(4), 711–718.
- Peay K, Belisle M & Fukami T 2012 Phylogenetic relatedness predicts priority effects in nectar yeast communities. Proc Biol Sci, 279(1729):749-58.
- Vannette RL & Fukami T 2014 Historical contingency in species interactions: towards niche-based predictions. Ecology Letters, 17 (1).
- Dhami MK, Hartwig T &. Fukami T 2016 Genetic basis of priority effects: insights from nectar yeast. Proc R Soc B, 283: 20161455.
- Letten AD, Dhami MK, Ke PJ & Fukami T 2018. Species coexistence through simultaneous fluctuation-dependent mechanisms. PNAS 115(26): 6745-6750.
- Hausmann, SL, Tietjen B. & Rillig MC 2017 Solving the puzzle of yeast. Survival in ephemeral systems: exponential growth is not enough. FEMS Microbiology. Ecology, 93:fix150.
- Pozo MI, Herrera. CM, Lachance MA & Verstrepen KJ 2015 Species coexistence in simple microbial communities? Unravelling the phenotypic landscape of co-occuring Metschnikowia species in floral nectar. Environmental microbiology 18(6)
