Vishniacozyma ellesmerensis sp. nov., a psychrophilic yeast isolated from a retreating glacier in the Canadian High Arctic.

Two strains of a psychrophilic basidiomycetous yeast species belonging to the genus Vishniacozyma were isolated from sediments and soil at the front of a retreating glacier on northern Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic. Analysis of the large subunit D1/D2 region and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of the rDNA indicated that these strains represented a novel species. The closest relatives of the novel species were Vishniacozyma globispora and V. dimennae, which exhibited sequence similarities of 82.2 and 81.6 %, respectively, to the ITS region of the novel species, and contained 61 and 57 nt substitutions, respectively, in the D1/D2 domain, in comparison with the novel species. Strains of the novel species were able to grow at sub-zero temperatures and in vitamin-free medium. These characteristics allow the strains to survive and grow in perennially cold, oligotrophic habitats in the Canadian High Arctic. The name Vishniacozyma ellesmerensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JCM 32573 (=UAMH 11973=G3-4-8) and the MycoBank number is MB825501.