Blastobotrys persicus sp. nov., an ascomycetous yeast species isolated from cave soil

Two strains (AHD129-1T and AHD129-2)of a new anamorphic yeast species were isolated fromMejare cave soil samples of Abdanan, Ilam, Iran.Nucleotide divergence in the D1/D2 domain of thelarge subunit (LSU) rRNA, and internal transcribedspacer (ITS) genes suggest that the two strains can beassigned to the Trichomonascus/Blastobotrys clade. Amaximum likelihood tree based on sequences of theD1/D2 domain revealed that the new species is closelyrelated to the species Trichomonascus ciferrii, Candidaallociferrii, and Candida mucifera. The newspecies could be distinguished from the closely relatedspecies by its ability to grow at 42 C and the inabilityto assimilate D-arabinose and D-mannitol. The name B.persicus sp. nov. is proposed for the new anamorphicspecies. The type strain of B. persicus is AHD129-1T = IBRC-M30238T = CBS 14259T, and the Mycobanknumber is MB 819148