Characterizing Novel Environmental Yeast Isolets
The microbiome of wild animals contains various types of microorganisms that are not well explored. Looking closely at the different organisms, specifically yeast species, can provide us with information about potential pathogens that may spread to humans or novel yeast species whose properties can be harnessed for biotechnology. The objective of this study is to explore the physiological differences of environmental yeast isolates from fecal and soil samples collected around the Itasca Biological Station and Laboratories. The species designation of the environmental yeast isolates were identified by sequencing the ITS1 region. A phylogenetic tree was constructed and twelve different groups were identified, including isolates of Candida albicans, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and several previously undescribed species A single strain from each group was chosen to carry out various growth assays over a 24-hour period. The growth of the strains was analyzed in various carbon (dextrose, sucrose, ethanol, lactose, and glycerol) and nitrogen (ammonium sulfate, arginine, proline, and urea) sources. Growth patterns were analyzed to see how the strains behaved compared to the other groups as well as their own group to help us further understand the physiological properties of the strains.The growth of each strain was determined by the amount of doubling that occurred throughout the 24 hour period. Out of the twelve strains ten grew the best in dextrose, while lactose and ethanol had four strains with zero growth. Of the nitrogen sources used, urea had the highest growth rate while ammonium sulfate had the lowest growth rates. Further analysis needs to be done to determine the genetic differences between the environmental Isolates and known clinical isolates. However, The microbiome of wild animals has the potential to provide us with yeast species that have properties to further advance biotechnology.