Two novel yeast strains, NYNU 236247 and NYNU 23523, were isolated from the leaves of Carpinus turczaninowii Hance, collected in the Tianchi Mountain National Forest Park, Henan Province, central China. Phylogenetic analysis of the D1/D2 domain of the large subunit rRNA gene and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region revealed the closest relatives of the strains are three described Pseudobensingtonia species: Ps. fusiformis, Ps. musae and Ps. ingoldii. The novel species differed from the type strains of these three species by 12 to 22 nucleotide substitutions and 1 gap (~2.0-4.0%) in the D1/D2 domain and by 78 to 100 nucleotide mismatches (~12.0-16%) in the ITS region. Physiologically, the novel species differs from Ps. fusiformis and Ps. musae in its ability to assimilate dl-lactate and melezitose and from Ps. ingoldii by its inability to assimilate melibiose, soluble starch and ethanol. Pseudobensingtonia carpini sp. nov. is proposed for those two strains, with the holotype designated as GDMCC 2.483T (MycoBank MB 857072).
Keywords: Pseudobensingtonia carpini; basidiomycetous yeasts; plant leaves.