New species of yeast discovered
21 Jun 2012 by Evoluted New Media
A new rare and unusual species of yeast has been discovered at three separate locations across the world.
The novel strain of yeast – Saccharomycopsis fodiens – was isolated in three geographically distant location: Eastern Australia, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands. Researchers from the Western University, Canada, the Federal University of Minas, Brazil and the Catholic University of Ecuador isolated thousands of yeasts from sap beetles – but only found S. fodiens three times.
The researchers say that the discovery of this species in such geographically distant locations could provide clues to how microorganisms are spread across the globe.
“The collection sites for S. fodiens are compatible with the hypothesis that ancient Polynesians migrated southward from Taiwan and the eastwards across the Pacific and eventually South America carrying sweet potato plants, whose flowers carry similar insects and yeast,” said Professor Marc-Andre Lachance, who led the team.
“The global dispersal of microorganisms remains poorly understood and it is tempting to fit the problem to the “Everything is Everywhere” models. However, it is quite plausible that human migrations, along with the displacement of domesticated or commensal plants or animals, could account for the rapid dispersal of very specialised microorganisms.”
S. fodiens is unusual in that it doesn’t used sulphates for growth like most other yeasts, and that it is parasitic to other yeasts, boring holes in their walls and leading to their destruction.
The researchers say they hope that yeast biodiversity researchers in other parts of the world will be on the lookout for this yeast, so that their human migration hypothesis can be tested. The next step is to identify the centre of origin for S. fodiens – “If it matches the supposed point of departure or passage of human migrations, this would provide further evidence of our theory,” Lachance said.
