Pseudomicrostroma glucosiphilum gen et sp. nov (MCA4718)
In 2013, the anamorphic yeast isolate MCA4718 was isolated using a selective 20% glucose agar plate exposed to air. The fungus forms cream to tan, butyrous colonies with a smooth margin. The colonies consist of subglobose to ellipsoidal yeasts with multipolar budding. Based on rDNA sequence analyses, the isolate is closely related to the non-pathogenic anamorphic yeast species Rhodotorula hinnulea and R. phylloplana which are currently placed in Microstromatales (Shivas and Rodrigues de Miranda, 1983; Weijman et al., 1988; Begerow et al., 2014). Assimilation studies in addition to DNA analyses suggest that the isolate MCA4718 represents an unpublished species, now named Pseudomicrostroma glucosiphilum gen et sp. nov (Kijpornyongpan and Aime, 2017).
Previous studies have shown that most pink-pigmented yeasts currently described as Rhodotorula species belong to the Microbotryomycetes and Cystobasidiomycetes in Pucciniomycotina, with the type species belonging in Microbotryomycetes (summarized in Aime et al., 2006, 2014). Thus, a new genus will need to be created for those species currently residing in Microstromatales, including the new species selected for genome sequencing.
The genome sequence of Pseudomicrostroma glucosiphilum gen et sp. nov will provide a genome reference sequence for a member of Microstromatales. Researchers will use these data in phylogenetic and phylogenomic reconstructions and in comparative genomics studies that seek to elucidate the molecular bases governing production of sexual and anamorphic states and the evolution of phytopathogenicity in Ustilaginomycotina.
References:
Aime MC, Matheny PB, Henk DA, Nilsson RH, Pipenbring M, McLaughlin DJ, Szabo LJ, Begerow D, Sampaio JP, Bauer R, Wei M, Oberwinkler F, Hibbett D. 2006. An overview of the higher level classification of Pucciniomycotina based on combined analyses of nuclear large and small subunit rDNA sequences. Mycologia 98(6):896–905.
Aime MC, Toome M, McLaughlin DJ. 2014. Pucciniomycotina. PP 271–294 In: The Mycota. Vol. VII Part A. Systematics and Evolution. 2nd Ed. McLaughlin DJ, Spatafora JW (Eds.) Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Begerow D, Schäfer AM, Kellner R, Yurkov A, Kemler M, Oberwinler F, Bauer R. 2014. Ustilaginomycotina. PP 295–329 In: The Mycota. Vol. VII Part A. Systematics and Evolution. 2nd Ed. McLaughlin DJ, Spatafora JW (Eds.) Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Shivas RG, Rodrigues de Miranda L. 1983. Cryptococcus phylloplanus and Cryptococcus hinnuleus, two new yeast species. Antonie van Leewenhoek 49:153–158.
Weijman ACM, Rodrigues de Miranda L, Van der Walt JP. 1988. Redefinition of Candida Berkhout and the consequent emendation of Cryptococcus Kützing and Rhodotorula Harrison. Antonie van Leewenhoek 54:545–553.
Kijpornyongpan T,
Aime MC. 2017. Taxonomic revisions in the Microstromatales: two new
yeast species, two new genera, and validation of Jaminaea
and two Sympodiomycopsis species. Mycol Progress
16:495-505.
Genome Reference(s)
Kijpornyongpan T, Mondo SJ, Barry K, Sandor L, Lee J, Lipzen A, Pangilinan J, LaButti K, Hainaut M, Henrissat B, Grigoriev IV, Spatafora JW, Aime MC
Broad Genomic Sampling Reveals a Smut Pathogenic Ancestry of the Fungal Clade Ustilaginomycotina.
Mol Biol Evol. 2018 Aug 1;35(8):1840-1854. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msy072