Yeasts Diversity of Wild Flowers in Mountains of Korea and Their Physiological Functionalities

Abstract

ABSTRACT : This study focused on isolation of wild yeasts from natural flowers and elucidation of yeast diversity. Wild yeasts were isolated from various flowers collected from mountains on the islands including Jejudo, Ulleungdo, Yokjido, and Seonyudo as well as inlands including Gyejoksan, Oseosan, Beakamsan, and Deogyusan in Korea. Isolated yeasts were identified by comparison of nucleotide sequences for polymerrase chain reaction-amplified D1/D2 region of 26S rDNA or internal transcribed spacer 1 and 2 including 5.8S rDNA using BLAST. 289 strains belonging to 134 yeast species were isolated. Cryptococcus genus strains were the most frequently isolated species among the identified yeasts. Metschnikowia reukaufii was also frequently isolated. Twenty three species including Cryptococcus aureus were overlapped between those of mountains on islands and inland. Physiological functionalities such as antioxidant activity, xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity, and tyrosinase inhibitory activity for the 289 identified yeast strains were investigated using their supernatant and cell-free extracts. The supernatants of Candida sp. 78-J-2 and Metschnikowia reukaufii SY44-6 showed antioxidant activity of 22.5%, and anti-gout xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity of 49.6%, respectively.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR), funded by the Ministry of Environment

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