B. Esteve-zarzoso et al., Identification of yeasts by RFLP analysis of the 5.8S rRNA gene and the two ribosomal internal transcribed spacers, INT J SY B, 49, 1999, pp. 329-337
The identification and classification of yeasts have traditionally been bas
ed on morphological. physiological and biochemical traits. Various kits hav
e been developed as rapid systems for yeast identification, but mostly for
clinical diagnosis. In recent years, different molecular biology techniques
have beers developed for yeast identification, but there is no available d
atabase to identify a large number of species. In the present study, the re
striction patterns generated from the region spanning the internal transcri
bed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2) and the 5.8S rRNA gene were used to identify a
total of 132 yeast species belonging to 25 different genera, including tele
omorphic and anamorphic ascomycetous and basidiomycetous yeasts. In many ca
ses, the size of the PCR products and the restriction patterns obtained wit
h endonucleases CfoI, HaeIII and HinfI yielded a unique profile for each sp
ecies. Accordingly, the use of this molecular approach is proposed as a new
rapid and easy method of routine yeast identification.