M. Takashima et al., PHYLOGENETIC-RELATIONSHIPS AMONG SPECIES OF THE GENUS BENSINGTONIA AND RELATED TAXA BASED ON THE SMALL-SUBUNIT RIBOSOMAL DNA-SEQUENCES, Journal of General and Applied Microbiology, 41(2), 1995, pp. 131-141
Small subunit ribosomal RNA gene sequences were determined in nine spe
cies of the ballistoconidium-forming yeast genus Bensingtonia. The phy
logenetic trees were constructed for the species of the genus Bensingt
onia and related taxa containing Sporobolomyces and Bullera species by
neighbor-joining, maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood methods. T
he phylogenetic trees showed that the basidiomycetous yeasts were divi
ded into two main clusters, which were correlated well with the presen
ce or absence of xylose in the cells. In the xylose-lacking basidiomyc
etous yeasts, seven species out of nine of the genus Bensingtonia cons
tituted a distinct cluster. Bensingtonia ciliata, the type species of
the genus, was included in this cluster. The remaining two species, B.
intermedia and B. yamatoana, were located in the cluster which contai
ned Rhodosporidium toruloides, Sporidiobolus johnsonii, Sporobolomyces
roseus and Leucosporidium scottii. Erythrobasidium hasegawianum was d
istinctly located in the xylose-lacking basidiomycetous cluster. The m
olecular phylogeny showed clearly that the genus Bensingtonia was not
monophyletic.