An approach to yeast classification by mapping mitochondrial DNA from Dekkera/Brettanomyces and Eeniella genera

Abstract

Sequences hybridizing to mitochondrial DNA probes from Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been mapped in six mitochondrial genomes from the Dekkera/Brettanomyces yeasts and in mtDNA from the closely related Eeniella nana. Sequence order for the 34.5 kbp mtDNA of E. nana is identical to that for mtDNAs from B. custersianus (28.5 kbp) and B. naardenensis (41.7 kbp) thereby suggesting that the former yeast is affiliated with the latter two species. A closer relationship is suggested for D. intermedia and D. bruxellensis as mtDNAs from these yeasts, 73.2 and 85.0 kbp respectively, have the same sequence order and mostly common restriction endonuclease sites. Differences between the two molecules are reminiscent of those found in mtDNA polymorphisms of S. cerevisiae strains thereby suggesting that the two Dekkera yeasts are variants of a single species. An unusual feature of the Dekkera species mtDNA is an inversion of the cytochrome b hybridizable region relative to the LrRNA sequence. Likewise mtDNA from B. anomalus (57.7 kbp) has an inversion of the cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 sequence with respect to the LrRNA sequence. By contrast the largest mtDNA (101.1 kbp) from B. custersii has the cytochrome b and LrRNA sequences in the same orientation. In addition hybridizable regions in this mtDNA are found in three clusters that are separated by several thousand base pairs of sequence deficient in restriction endonuclease sites. This observation together with the low guanine and cytosine content of the mtDNA suggests that the regions separating the sequence clusters are mostly adenine and thymine residues.