Many years of research has confirmed a wide distribution of anamorphous ascomycete yeasts in the phyllosphere of diverse plants
of Moscow and the Moscow oblast. Based on the standard morphological and physiological criteria, on the results of restriction
analysis of the 5.8S-ITS rDNA region, and on the sequencing of the D1D2 region of 26S rDNA, these yeasts were identified as
Candida oleophila Montrocher. Previous isolation of this species has been rare, possibly due to its incorrect identification. This species,
together with phytobiotic basidiomycete yeasts, was shown to be dominant in the yeast epiphytic communities on the surface
parts of plants. The relative abundance of
C. oleophila is highest on plant fruits and increases significantly by the end of the vegetation period. Wide occurrence of this yeast
species on fruits and in the phyllosphere may be related to its ability to compete with rapidly growing phytopathogenic fungi.
Key words yeasts -
Candida oleophila
- phyllosphere - epiphytic microorganisms
Original Russian Text © A.M. Glushakova, A.M. Yurkov, I.Yu. Chernov, 2007, published in Mikrobiologiya, 2007, Vol. 76, No.
6, pp. 896–901.