Ea. Santos et al., YEASTS ASSOCIATED WITH FLOWERS AND FRUITS FROM A SEMIARID REGION OF NORTHEASTERN BRAZIL, Revista de Microbiologia, 27(1), 1996, pp. 33-40
Yeast species on flowers and fruits from 4 trees (cashew, Anacardium o
ccidentalis; caja, Spondia lutea; urnbu, Spondia sp.; and mango, Mangi
fera indica) of the Northeastern region of Brazil were studied in fiel
d and market samples. Vigorous shaking removed most yeasts from fruit
surfaces, and blending suspended and disaggregated the more firmly att
ached ones. Ripe fruits were dissected asseptically to separate the su
rface and internal communities. Isolations were made on Glucose-Yeast
Extract-Peptone medium and Vitamin Free Yeast Base, both adjusted to p
H 3.7 and containing 200 mg/l of chloramphenicol. The yeast communitie
s of flowers and green fruits were dominated by basidiomycetous anamor
phs (especially Cryptococcus laurentii). and black yeasts, but there w
as a sucession on ripe fruits to a community dominated by diverse asco
mycctous species and their anamorphs. Metschnikowia pulcherrima was fr
equently isolated from cashew flowers and associated bees and a Candid
a entomaea -like species was prevalent on Caja fruits in the field. Th
e ascomycetous yeast community of ripe fruits consisted preferentially
of fermentative species with low physiological profiles, including Is
satchenkia orientalis and Kloeckera javanica as frequent isolates. A s
equence of samples from different stages of flowering and fructificati
on, vigorous pre-isolation treatments and different isolation media sh
ould be used to obtain an adequate description of these yeast communit
ies.