Candida phyllophila sp. nov. and candida vitiphila sp. nov., two novel yeast species from grape phylloplane in Thailand

Abstract

Three strains (K59T, K60 and K70 T) representing two novel yeast species were isolated from the external surface of leaves of different wine grape (Vitis vinifera) plants, which were collected from the Kanchanaburi Research Station (N14°07′15.1″ E099°19′05.6″), Wang Dong Sub-district, Mueang District, Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand, by an enrichment technique. The sequences of the D1/D2 domain of the large subunit (LSU) rRNA gene of two strains (K59T and K60) were identical and differed from that of strain K70T. In terms of pairwise sequence similarity of the D1/ D2 domain, the closest species to the three strains was Candida asparagi but with 2.3% nucleo-tide substitutions for strains K59 T and K60, and 2.1% nucleotide substitutions for strain K70 T. On the basis of morphological, biochemical, physiological and chemotaxonomic characteristics and the sequence analysis of the D1/D2 domain of the large subunit (LSU) rRNA gene, the three strains were assigned to be two novel Candida species. Two strains (K59T and K60) were as-signed as Candida phyllophila sp. nov. (type strain K59T=BCC 42662T=NBRC 107776T=CBS 12671T). Candida vitiphila sp. nov. is proposed for strain K70T (=BCC 42663T=NBRC 107777T=CBS 12672T).