Large biodiversity of yeasts in French Guiana and the description of Suhomyces coccinellae f.a. sp. nov. and Suhomyces faveliae f.a. sp. nov.

The extent of the diversity of yeasts in tropical rain forest and different environments from French Guiana was investigated. A total of 365 samples were collected from various substrates, such as plants, fruits and insects, at 13 locations, yielding 276 pure yeast isolates. Sequence analysis of the D1/D2 domains of the large subunit rRNA gene indicated that 210 isolates out of 276 belonged to 82 described species (67 Saccharomycotina, 14 Basidiomycota and 1 Pezizomycotina). In addition to these, a total of 54 Saccharomycotina isolates could not be assigned to a known species. These belonged to 14 genera and should be studied further from a taxonomic point of view. In addition, among the 43 Basidiomycotina isolates found, 12 could not be assigned to a known species. This report shows an unexpected biodiversity and indicates that oversea territories, such as French Guiana, constitute a largely unexplored reservoir for yeast diversity. Two Saccharomycotina strains, CLIB 1706 and CLIB 1725, isolated from an insect and from a fern respectively, were characterized further and were shown to belong to the Suhomyces clade on the basis of the rDNA sequence comparison. CLIB 1706rDNA sequences showed nine substitutions and three indels out of 556 bp (D1/D2 domains) and 32 substitutions and 12 indels out of 380 bp [internal transcribed spacer (ITS)] with that of the most closely related species Suhomyces guaymorum CBS 9823. CLIB 1725 rDNA sequences presented 18 substitutions and one indel out of 549 bp (D1/D2 domains) and 48 substitutions and 11 indels out of 398 bp (ITS) with that of its closest relative Suhomyces vadensis CBS 9454. Two novel species of the genus Suhomyces were described to accommodate these two strains: Suhomyces coccinellae f.a. sp. nov. (CLIB 1706=CBS 14298) and Suhomyces faveliae f.a. sp. nov. (CLIB 1725=CBS 14299).