RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Fotedar, Rashmi A1 Fell, Jack W. A1 Boekhout, Teun A1 Kolecka, Anna A1 Zeyara, Aisha A1 Kaul, Ridhima A1 Malki, Amina Al- A1 Marri, Masoud AlYR 2019 T1 Cystobasidium halotolerans sp. nov., a novel basidiomycetous yeast species isolated from the Arabian Gulf JF International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, VO 69 IS 3 SP 839 OP 845 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/ijsem.0.003250 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1466-5034, AB Two strains, 1Y129 and 3Y383, which represent a single novel anamorphic yeast species, were isolated from the Arabian Gulf surrounding Qatar. The two strains have identical sequences in the D1/D2 domains of the large subunit (LSU) and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of the rRNA gene. On the basis of this sequence analysis the two strains were found to be closely related to Cystobasidium slooffiae CBS5706T with 97. 3 % nucleotide substitutions (12 nt; four gaps) in D1/D2 regions of the LSU rRNA and 97.0 % nucleotide substitutions (14 nt; two gaps) in ITS regions. In contrast to Cystobasidium halotolerans sp. nov., the related species Cystobasidium slooffiae, Cystobasidium minutum and Cystobasidium fimetarium were unable to assimilate d-galactose, soluble starch, galactitol, methanol or nitrate, and grew at 37 °C. The name proposed for this undescribed species is Cystobasidium halotolerans sp. nov. The ex-type strain is QCC/Y31/17 (=MUCL057192=CGMCC2.5570)., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/ijsem/10.1099/ijsem.0.003250