Occurrence and Molecular Identification of Wild Yeasts from Jimma Zone, South West Ethiopia.

Anbessa Dabassa Koricha,Da-Yong Han,Feng-Yan Bai,Ketema Bacha

doi:10.3390/microorganisms7120633

Anbessa Dabassa Koricha, Da-Yong Han + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms7120633

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Abstract

Yeasts are common inhabitants of most fruit trees’ rhizospheres and phyllospheres. Wild yeasts are the major driving force behind several modern industrial biotechnologies. This study focused on determining the occurrence and frequency of wild yeasts associated with domestic and wild edible tree barks, fruits, and rhizosphere soil samples collected over two seasons (i.e., spring and summer) in South West Ethiopia. A total of 182 yeast strains were isolated from 120 samples. These strains belonged to 16 genera and 27 species as identified based on the sequence analysis of the D1/D2 domain of the large subunit (26S) ribosomal RNA gene. Candida blattae, Pichia kudriavzevii, Candida glabrata, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Candida humilis were the most dominant yeast species isolated from the bark samples. Only Pichia kudriavzevii was regularly detected from the bark, rhizosphere, fruit, and sugarcane samples. The retrieval of yeasts from bark samples was more frequent and diverse than that of soil, fruits, and sugarcane. The frequency of detection of yeasts during the spring was significantly higher than in the summer season. However, there was no significant seasonal variation in the frequency of detection of yeast species between the rhizosphere and phyllosphere samples.

Highlights

Plants generally associate with large numbers and diverse groups of microorganisms including yeasts, bacteria, filamentous fungi, viruses, protozoa, and algae
Pichia kudriavzevii was the only yeast species associated with all sample sources except for the mango and guava samples
Pichia kudriavzevii, Candida humilis, and Lachancea thermotolerans isolated from both bark and rhizosphere soils can be considered as resident yeast species

Summary

Introduction

Plants generally associate with large numbers and diverse groups of microorganisms including yeasts, bacteria, filamentous fungi, viruses, protozoa, and algae. Plants are rich sources of nutrients for microorganisms [1]. The association between plants and microorganism could be competition, commensalism, mutualism, or parasitism [2]. The microbial communities of plant shoot and root systems play a pivotal role in plant functioning by inducing physiology and development [3]. Plant–bacteria interactions are well studied, but yeast–plant interactions have attracted very little attention. Plant-associated microorganisms colonize different parts of a plant, where each plant part has its distinct microbiome [4,5]. The rhizosphere habitats [5] and the endophytic microbiota [4] are among the most explored microbiomes

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