Novakomyces olei sp. nov., the first member of a novel Taphrinomycotina lineage

Čadež, Neža (author), Dlauchy, Dénes (author), Tome, Miha (author), Péter, Gábor (author)

Taphrinomycotina is the smallest subphylum of the phylum Ascomycota. It is an assemblage of distantly related early diverging lineages of the phylum, comprising organisms with divergent morphology and ecology; however, phylogenomic analyses support its monophyly. In this study, we report the isolation of a yeast strain, which could not be assigned to any of the currently recognised five classes of Taphrinomycotina. The strain of the novel budding species was recovered from extra virgin olive oil and characterised phenotypically by standard methods. The ultrastructure of the cell wall was investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Comparisons of barcoding DNA sequences indicated that the investigated strain is not closely related to any known organism. Tentative phylogenetic placement was achieved by maximum-likelihood analysis of the D1/D2 domain of the nuclear LSU rRNA gene. The genome of the investigated strain was sequenced, assembled, and annotated. Phylogenomic analyses placed it next to the fission Schizosaccharomyces species. To accommodate the novel species, Novakomyces olei, a novel genus Novakomyces, a novel family Novakomycetaceae, a novel order Novakomycetales, and a novel class Novakomycetes is proposed as well. Functional analysis of genes missing in N. olei in comparison to Schizosaccharomyces pombe revealed that they are biased towards biosynthesis of complex organic molecules, regulation of mRNA, and the electron transport chain. Correlating the genome content and physiology among species of Taphrinomycotina revealed some discordance between pheno- and genotype. N. olei produced ascospores in axenic culture preceded by conjugation between two cells. We confirmed that N. olei is a primary homothallic species lacking genes for different mating types.

• Language: English
• Keywords: genome sequence, phylogenomics, functional gene analysis, novel yeast species, novel class, olive oil
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: BF - Biotechnical Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2021
• Number of pages: 19 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 9, iss. 2, art. 301
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-135042
• UDC: 579.8:582.282.23
• ISSN on article: 2076-2607
• DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms9020301
• COBISS.SI-ID: 49990915
• Publication date in RUL: 18.02.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Microorganisms
• Shortened title: Microorganisms
• Publisher: MDPI AG
• ISSN: 2076-2607
• COBISS.SI-ID: 523277081

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
• Licensing start date: 02.02.2021

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: kvasovke, taksonomija kvasovk, Novakomyces olei, filogenomika