• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.234-241
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• 2019

An intensive interaction between yeasts and insects has highlighted their relevance for attraction to food and for the insect's development and behavior. Yeast associated in the gut of insects secretes cellulase which aided in the food digestion (cellulose degradation). Three strains of cellulose-degrading yeast were isolated from the gut of adult grasshoppers collected in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. The strains $ON22^T$, $G10^T$, and $G15^T$, showed positive cellulolytic activity in the carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)-plate assay. The phylogenetic tree based on sequence analysis of D1/D2 domains of the large subunit rRNA gene and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions revealed that the strains $ON22^T$ (100 and 98.4% sequence similarities in D1/D2 domains and ITS) and $G10^T$ (99.8 and 99.5% in D1/D2 domain and ITS region) were most closely related to the species Moesziomyces aphidis JCM $10318^T$; $G15^T$ (100% in D1/D2 domains and ITS) belongs to the species Moesziomyces antarcticus JCM $10317^T$, respectively. Morphology and biochemical test results are provided in the species description. Cellulase with its massive applicability has been used in various industrial processes such as biofuels like bioethanol productions. Therefore, this is the first report of the cellulolytic yeast strains $ON22^T$, $G10^T$, and $G15^T$ related to the genus Moesziomyces in the family Ustilaginaceae (Ustilaginales), in Korea.