Meira siamensis sp. nov., a novel anamorphic ustilaginomycetous yeast species isolated from the vetiver grass phylloplane.

Two strains, DMKU-LV83 and DMKU-LV85, of a novel yeast species were isolated from the phylloplane of vetiver grass collected in Thailand by plating of leaf washings. Analysis of the sequences of the D1/D2 region of the large subunit (LSU) rRNA gene showed that the two strains represent a single novel species and most closely related to Meira miltonrushii. However, the novel species differed from the type strain of M. miltonrushii (MCA 3882T) by 5.5 % nucleotide substitutions in the D1/D2 region and 8.9 % nucleotide substitutions in the ITS region. The phylogenetic analysis based on the D1/D2 region of the LSU rRNA gene confirmed the placement of the novel species in the Meira clade and its close affinity with M. miltonrushii. Therefore, the species Meira siamensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is DMKU-LV83T (=CBS 12860T=BCC 61180T).