| Abstract |
Yarrowia lipolytica is the only known species in the teleomorph (i.e. sexual) genus Yarrowia and has its anamorph (i.e. asexual state) classified in the genus Candida Berkhout as Candida lipolytica. This species can be found readily in nature, has significant industrial value and is important to the food and medical fields. Candida deformans was first considered a variety of C. lipolytica and was later listed as a synonym of this species. More recent studies based on sequence variation in the nuclear rRNA gene sequences suggested C. deformans to be a separate species with no known teleomorph linked to it. In this study we show that C. deformans strains, obtained from South Africa, can mate with strains present in the CBS yeast collection and produce a Yarrowia teleomorph, described here as Yarrowia deformans. Strains of Candida yakushimensis nom. inval., a species also belonging to the Yarrowia phylogenetic clade, were also studied and described as a novel species of Yarrowia.
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