Wickerhamomyces psychrolipolyticus f.a., sp. nov., a novel yeast species producing two kinds of lipases with activity at different temperatures

Two yeast strains isolated from soil collected in Hokkaido, Japan, were found to secrete two extracellular lipases that exhibited activities at both 25 and 4 °C. Both strains could utilize olive oil, rapeseed oil, lard and fish oil as sole carbon sources. The similarity of the D1/D2 domain of the large subunit ribosomal RNA (LSU rRNA) sequence of these yeast strains to that of other yeasts in the GenBank database was very low (<96 %). The phylogenetic trees based on the LSU rRNA sequences and translation elongation factor-1-α ( tef1-α ) sequences indicated that both strains represented a member of the Wickerhamomyces / Candida clade. Sexual reproduction was not observed. The name Wickerhamomyces psychrolipolyticus f.a., sp. nov is proposed for this newly described yeast species producing cold-active lipases. This novel species is distinguishable from the type strains of other related species, Wickerhamomyces alni , Candida ulmi and Candida quercuum due to their abilities to grow at 4 to 30 °C, to produce lipase that is active also at 4 °C and to assimilate soluble starch.