Description of Scheffersomyces henanensis sp. nov., a new D-xylose-fermenting yeast species isolated from rotten wood.

Two strains of a D-xylose-fermenting yeast species were isolated from rotten wood samples collected from the Baotianman Nature Reserve in Henan Province, central China. These strains formed hat-shaped ascospores in conjugated and deliquescent asci. Multilocus phylogenetic analysis that included the nearly complete small subunit (SSU), the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and the D1/D2 domain of the large subunit (LSU) rRNA genes, as well as RNA polymerase II largest subunit (RPB1) gene demonstrated that the two strains represent a novel yeast species closely related to Scheffersomyces segobiensis. A sequence comparison of xylose reductase (XYL1) gene, which was recently recommended for rapid identification of cryptic species in the Scheffersomyces clade, revealed a significant sequence divergence of 25 nucleotides between the novel strains and their closest relative S. segobiensis, supporting their classification as a distinct species. Furthermore, these new strains can be clearly distinguished from S. segobiensis by a number of morphological and physiological characteristics. Therefore, a novel yeast species, Scheffersomyces henanensis sp. nov., is proposed to accommodate these strains. The type strain is BY-41T ( =  CICC 1974T  =  CBS 12475T).