Adaptation of yeasts of the genus Debaryomyces to protocatechuic acid
Karasevich, I.N.
Mikrobiologiia 49(4): 595-598
1980
ISSN/ISBN: 0026-3656 PMID: 7412619 Document Number: 165553
Among five yeast strains belonging to the genus Debaryomyces that were unable of utilizing aromatic compounds (phenols and hydroxybenzoic acids), three strains, viz. D. kloeckeri BKM-Y-1044, D. marama BKM-Y-100 and D. marama BKM-Y-2045, were adapted to protocatechuic acid. The adapted yeasts utilized protocatechuic acid if its concentration in the medium was 0.1%, but did not utilize it, or did at a very low rate, if the concentration of protocatechuic acid was decreased to 0.05%. The mechanism of adaptation is rare mutations occurring in succession, and the process takes therefore several months. The adaptation seems to be based on reversion of inactivated genes for enzymes involved in the preparative metabolism of protocatechuic acid. Three typical yeast species of the Debaryomyces genus are proposed (D. hansenii, D. kloeckeri and D. konokotinae) which include all of the Debaryomyces species and strains available at the Institute of Microbiology of the USSR Academy of Sciences.