Submitted to: Bergey's International Society for Microbial Systematics Bulletin
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: November 23, 2010
Publication Date: December 30, 2010
Citation: Kurtzman, C.P. 2010. Description of new yeast species – is one strain enough? Bergey's International Society for Microbial Systematics Bulletin. 1(pt 1):17-24. Technical Abstract: The issue of description of new yeast species on the basis of a single strain is discussed. Single gene sequences, such as those from D1/D2 LSU rRNA, or sequences from ITS1/ITS2 are commonly used as the basis for recognizing new yeast species. Evidence is presented that hybrids and species with polymorphic gene sequences may not be recognized from a single gene analysis, but with multigene sequence comparisons, single-strain species can be accurately determined. Further, description of single-strain species will add to an understanding of yeast phylogeny and species diversity, which would be unknown if new species descriptions were limited to those taxa for which multiple strains were available.