Wickerhamomyces sylviae f.a., sp. nov., an ascomycetous yeast species isolated from migratory birds.

In the present work, we investigated the phylogenetic position and phenotypic characteristics of eight yeast isolates collected from migratory birds on the island of Ustica, Italy. A phylogenetic analysis based on the D1/D2 region of the large-subunit rRNA gene showed that all isolates clustered as a single separate lineage within the Wickerhamomyces clade. They exhibited distinct morphological and physiological characteristics and were clearly separated from their closest relatives, Wickerhamomyces lynferdii, Wickerhamomyces anomalus and Wickerhamomyces subpelliculosus, in BLASTN searches. On the basis of the isolation source, physiological features and molecular strain typing carried out with randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR and minisatellite-primed (MSP)-PCR analysis, the isolates were identified as strains of the same species. The name Wickerhamomyces sylviae f.a., sp. nov. is proposed to accommodate these novel strains; the type strain is U88A2T (5PYCC 6345T5CBS 12888T). The MycoBank number is MB 804762.