Isolation of marine yeasts from coastal waters of northeastern Taiwan

Twelve seawater samples were collected from the coastal marine waters of northeastern Taiwan, and 109 yeast cultures were isolated from the samples. Isolates were first classified by phenotype and then into 9 groups according to restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis and the sequencing of 5.8S-ITS ribosomal DNA. The results showed that Candida tropicalis was the most frequently recovered yeast found in the coastal waters of northeastern Taiwan. Other species found in this study included C. glabrata, Saccharomyces yakushimaensis, Kazachstania jiainicus, Kodamaea ohmeri, Pichia anomala, Issatchenkia orientalis, and Hanseniaspora uvarum. The biodiversity of yeast species was determined from the south to north of the northeastern coastal waters.