Cryptococcus taiwanensis sp. nov., a novel yeast in Taiwan.

During a continuous survey of yeast diversity in Taiwan, an anamorphic yeast, belonging to the genus Cryptococcus was obtained. To determine the species identity, this yeast was analysed morphologically, physiologically, and phylogenetically. Neither ballistoconidia nor sexual reproduction was observed. Sequence analysis of 26S rRNA gene indicates that Cryptococcus zeae, Bullera kunmingensi, Cryptococcus luteolus, Bullera sinensis are the most closely related species, with 96.0 to 96.7% sequence similarity. But they only show low sequence similarity with the yeast obtained in this study in the ITS region (91.2 to 96.2%), and differ physiologically from it in the ability to assimilate creatine, creatinine and imidazole, and to grow in 0.1% cycloheximide. Judging from these comparative analyses, a novel species, Cryptococcus taiwanensis, is proposed, with BCRC 23252(superscript T) (=CBS 12180(superscript T)) as the type strain.