Species identification and comparative molecular and physiological analysis of Candida zemplinina and Candida stellata.

Strains of the recently described yeast species Candida zemplinina have been identified in botrytized grapes and musts in geographically distant areas. C. zemplinina is almost indistinguishable from C. stellata, another yeast common in fermenting botrytized wines. In this work a specific PCR-RFLP method is described for the differentiation of the two species. It is also shown that both species have three chromosomes, display chromosomal length polymorphism, and C. zemplinina has a smaller genome. C. zemplinina is acidogenic, highly osmotolerant, grows much better than C. stellata in the presence of ethanol and at low temperatures. ((c) 2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim).