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Abstract
Four strains isolated from sediment sampled at the front of a retreating glacier on northern Ellesmere Island in the Canadian high Arctic, namely JCM 32575T, JCM 32576, JCM 32577 and JCM 32578, belong to a novel psychrophilic basidiomycetous yeast species in the genus Mrakia. Molecular phylogenetic analysis indicated that these strains are most closely related to the type strains of Mrakia aquatica and Mrakianic combsii, but with 8–9 and 7–12 nt substitutions in ITS and in the D1/D2 domain of the LSU rRNA gene, respectively. The strains grew at sub-zero temperatures and in vitamin-free media, with lipase and cellulase highly active even at −3 °C. These characteristics likely allow this yeast species to grow and survive in extremely cold, oligotrophic environments, such as the fronts of retreating glaciers in the high Arctic. The name Mrakia hoshinonis sp. nov. is proposed, with type strain JCM 32575T (UAMH 11969) and MycoBank number MB 825484.
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Funding
- National Institute of Polar Research (Award KP-309)
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Award 16H06211)
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Award 16H05885)
- Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Award ArCS (Arctic Challenge for Sustainability))
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Award ArcticNet/Sentinel North project NEIGE)
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Award Polar Continental Shelf Program (PCSP))
- Institution for Fermentation, Osaka (Award Y-2018-004)