SENSITIVITY OF YEASTS TO DIGESTIVE FLUID IN THE GUT OF SOIL DIPLOPODSPACHYIULUS-FLAVIPES CL-KOCH

The viability of yeast isolated from oak leaf litter and the gut and e xcrements of diplopods-millepeds Pachyiulus flavipes was investigated by the inoculation method after incubation in digestive fluid taken fr om the midgut of millepeds. According to the death rate, the yeast wer e divided into three groups. The most sensitive were the yeast isolate d from the litter: Aureobasidium pullulans, Rhodotorula graminis, Cryp tococcus albidus, and Candida scottii. Their number reduced thousandfo ld after 2-min incubation. Trichosporum pullulans isolated from excrem ents were more resistant. Zygowilliopsis californicus, Galactomyces ge atrichum, and Debaryomyces hansenii isolated from the gut of millepeds were most resistant. The ecological significance of the discovered ef fect is discussed. The data were compared with the model of yeast func tioning in the milleped gut which had been suggested previously by the authors.