Isolation of four unrecorded yeasts in the family Filobasidiaceae from soil in Korea

In 2020, 11 Basidiomycetous yeast strains were isolated from soil samples collected from the forests of Namhansanseong in Korea. Among them, seven species were reported, but four species were unreported in Korea. To identify wild yeasts, pairwise sequence comparisons of D1/D2 domain of the 26S rRNA were performed using Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST). The cell morphologies and assimilation test are observed by phase contrast microscope and API 20C AUX kit, respectively. The 11 strains were assigned to the genera Rhodotorula (4 strains) of the order Sporidiobolales of the class Microbotryomycetes; and Cryptococcus(2 strains), Goffeauzyma (1 strains), Naganishia (2 strains) of the order Filobasidiales and Saitozyma (2 strains) of the order Tremellales of the class Tremellomycetes in the phylum Basidiomycota. The unreported yeast strains Cryptococcus gastricus 20n5-2, Goffeauzyma gilvescens 20n2-7, Naganishia adeliensis 20n8-1, and Naganishia friedmannii 20n24-1 belong to the family Filobasidiaceae. All strains had oval shaped cells and cream-colored colonies cultured on on YM agar for 3 days. In this study, we focus on the description of four unreported yeast species in Korea.