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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Peoria, Illinois » National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research » Mycotoxin Prevention and Applied Microbiology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #269039
Title: Citeromyces hawaiiensis sp. nov., a new ascosporic yeast associated with Myoporum sandwicense

Author
item Kurtzman, Cletus

Submitted to: International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/3/2011
Publication Date: 5/9/2012
Citation: Kurtzman, C.P. 2012. Citeromyces hawaiiensis sp. nov., a new ascosporic yeast associated with Myoporum sandwicense. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 62(pt5):1215-1219.

Interpretive Summary: Food spoilage is caused by many different types of microorganisms, but yeasts are common spoilage organisms of high sugar or high acid products such as condiments, soft candies and sweetened condensed milk. Food spoilage impacts food security through loss of products and the resulting economic costs. The yeast genus Citeromyces is well known for causing spoilage of candied fruit and sweetened condensed milk. Until now, two Citeromyces species were known. In the course of a study of spoilage yeasts, a third species of Citeromyces was discovered using multigene sequence analysis. This new species, named Citeromyces hawaiiensis, was isolated from exudates of sandalwood trees in Hawaii and was not recognized as new because it looks the same as previously described species. Whether C. hawaiiensis is a spoilage organism is presently unknown because it would not have been previously recognized as different from C. matritensis and C. siamensis, the earlier described species. However, this study provides a multigene system for identification of Citeromyces species, two of which are known food spoilage species and alerts the food industry to the possibility of food spoilage by a third species of Citeromyces.

Technical Abstract: Citeromyces hawaiiensis sp. nov. (NRRL Y-11581, CBS 12303, type strain) is described from 12 strains isolated from flux of the sandalwood (Myoporum sandwicense) and adjacent soil in Hawaii, USA. Analysis of gene sequences from the D1/D2 domains of nuclear large subunit rRNA, ITS, mitochondrial small subunit rRNA and translation elongation factor-1a each separated the proposed new species from C. matritensis and C. siamensis, the other known species of the genus Citeromyces. The three species are morphologically similar but they can be separated by growth reactions on standard assimilation tests. An additional strain of C. siamensis (NRRL Y-11788), a species previously known only from Thailand, was obtained from spoiled condensed milk in Ohio, USA.